300 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



in their own superiority they are hard to beat. My 

 companion on this particular 24th was, moreover, 

 spoiled by a local reputation as the best shot of the 

 neighbourhood. As I found out later on he was quite 

 the most jealous shot it has ever been my bad fortune 

 to meet. His shooting would in England have been 

 considered fair to moderate, but his own faith in it 

 was quite unbounded. On one occasion I was giving 

 him some idea of English grouse-driving, and of the 

 performances of such shots as Lords de Grey and 

 Walsingham on those occasions. His only comment 

 was : " Ah ! I used to shoot much better before my 

 recent illness," the obvious inference being that he 

 considered himself on a par with the sportsmen whose 

 names I had just mentioned. Fortunately I was 

 behind him, for I had to laugh. 



That he looked upon all game as so much in 

 pocket was rather the result of the German system 

 than his own fault. The outlay required to rent 

 decent shooting there is so absurdly small that a class 

 of people, who would never think of having shooting 

 of their own in England, attend on the occasions 

 when the communal shootings are put up to auction. 



For his best shooting, H (that was his name) 



paid three pounds a year, and Government found the 

 keeper. This shooting (it was 550 acres of woodland) 

 yielded in one winter twenty-seven foxes, for the skins 



of which H obtained four shillings each, besides 



a few roe-deer, and badgers, and a good head of hares. 

 The fox-skins alone nearly paid the rent twice over, 

 and other expense there was none, except that he 



