HISTORICAL 73 



leading by one bird, found himself unable 

 to go any further, and sent his seconds 

 to offer a draw, which Captain Ross, 

 who was still going as strong as ever, 

 accepted, because he found it impossible 

 to get a shot, the birds being all out 

 feeding on the stubbles. 



The number of birds killed was very 

 small, only some 25 brace ; which was 

 scarcely to be wondered at, considering 

 how late in the season it was, and that 

 the guns were accompanied by two or 

 three hundred men on horseback, all 

 talking and betting on the shot, and 

 making what Captain Ross calls an " in- 

 describable row." When the draw was 

 declared, Captain Ross, who, it must be 

 remembered, had just walked close on 

 forty -five miles in nine hours, offered 

 there and then to start against any one 

 present and race him on foot to London, 

 some seventy miles, for 500 a side, but 

 found no takers among the five or six 

 hundred people present. 



Such glimpses of the past are surely 



