94 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



again proved a fruitful source of argument with sports- 

 men. Some, I believe, hold to the opinion that the 

 pellets jostle one another on being released from the 

 muzzle of the gun, and this causes one or more occa- 

 sionally to cannon off at an angle. This assumption 

 sounds so very pretty in theory that I am not inclined 

 to question it. I will, however, suggest that the flat- 

 tened edge of a misshapen pellet may now and again 

 cause such battered missile to diverge at a sharp angle 

 from its proper course. 



AN OLD POACHER. 



