2 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



fore then and there he made a vow that all the 

 blandishments and temptations in the world could 

 not induce him to fire a gun again in his lifetime. 

 The consequences were too fearful, and how Duncan 

 had the strength and courage to do it he could not 

 understand. Duncan, indeed, must be a Hercules 

 at least, and therefore entitled to intense respect. 



After this unfortunate episode, the desire to 

 possess specimens of birds being undiminished, I 

 resolved to study and achieve some skill with that 

 much misunderstood little weapon, the catapult, 

 as it seemed to offer certain possibilities of being 

 made fairly accurate, and could not, at any rate, 

 mangle its user in the same way as firearms. I 

 practised assiduously, but it was not until I went 

 to Marlborough, at the age of eleven, that another 

 boy, named " Viper " Clark, who was a splendid 

 shot, initiated me into the mysteries of the small, 

 square " tweaker " elastic — how to put on the bag 

 and make a hard fork from privet, properly burnt 

 in the flame of a candle. He also instructed me in 

 several important items, such as weight of shot 

 according to size of elastic, shape and use of chamois- 

 leather bag, how to adjust rubber to fork and bag 

 to avoid fraying in use, and, most important of 

 all, how to keep elastic at the right temperature. 

 All these and other details are essential to the boy 

 who would achieve success with the insignificant 

 little " tweaker," and I worked so hard to improve 

 my shooting — being then perfectly absorbed both 

 in the hunting and preservation of my specimens — 

 that I soon surpassed my master, and became the 

 leader of a gang of what my tutors described as 

 " undisciplined young reprobates, who spent their 



