14 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



is on it, abstaining from the trigger till the game 

 is at sufficient distance to be simply and cleanly 

 killed, to see that bird or hare blown by a gmmer, 

 who had no business to shoot at it, into a mass 

 of fractured limbs, of fur or feathers, of no use 

 to any one, but simply so exterminated to add to 

 the l)ag of the day and to the headachy pleasure 

 of letting a petard off under a gunner's nose. Of 

 course I exclaim, on the part of the lord of 

 the manor, to the owner of the intruding gun, 

 ^'Cooking distance, if you please," and ^^what 

 business had you to shoot that bird ? " 



'^ My dear fellow," cries the shooter or shooters, 

 — for probably several had lent their aid to spoil 

 the game, — ^^ you were so long in letting off your 

 r/un, that we thought you weren't going to pull 

 the trigger.'' 



This, when ^' subdued and slow," angers me not 

 at all. I laugh at these eager men, and j)ity the 

 spoiling of the game ; if their stand in a cover was 

 near mine, I could, if I chose it, give them scarce a 

 chance of pulling a trigger, save at a falling bird. 



I see that it gives men, many younger, some as 

 old as myself, so much pleasure to let oft' their 

 gun, that I oftcr abstain from an opportunity. 



