20 • FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



^^Nooa," he said, gTinning. 



^'Will you be sliot again," I asked him, ^^ if I 

 give you another half-crown to-morrow ? " 



^^ Ees/' was the response, to the great grati- 

 fication of the head gamekeeper, the gigantic 

 Beard, for whom I always entertained, and still 

 entertain, the highest respect, as no man ever 

 did his duty better, or proved himself a more 

 faithful servant, to the late as well as to the 

 present Mr. Foley. 



Beard was, if I remember rightly, over six feet 

 three in heiglit, and not being able to swim, he 

 used to walk, after a fashion, under water, when 

 the river or canal was deep and narrow, and 

 somehow or other always came up on the side 

 he desired. 



In these fast and heedless days, let me here pro- 

 pose a caution to my brother shooters; It is this : 

 if they cannot afford to keep a servant of their 

 own to load their second gun, then never borrow 

 from your entertainer a keeper of tliat particular 

 manor to load the spare gun, for instead of his 

 attention being strictl}- confined to the charging 

 and care of the second gun, his ideas will be 

 ranging to the rise of the game, the flight of wild 



