16 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



keeper, one Sharp, who was a good observer and a 

 most determined man. At that time poaching was 

 more in vogue than it is to-day in Shropshire, 

 Cheshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire, where huge 

 stocks of game were raised. Gangs of rough 

 fellows used to come and raid the fields and 

 woods, and fierce affrays between the keepers and 

 law-breakers were not uncommon. Sharp himself 

 was permanently lame as the result of one of these 

 battles, when a poacher had fired at him from close 

 range. 



As an instance of Sharp's quick practice with 

 these gentry, I may give the following example, of 

 which I was an eye-witness. One day Sharp and 

 I with another under-keeper were ferreting and 

 shooting rabbits on the side of a sandy bank close 

 to the lake of Beaumer. A big excavation had been 

 made in the sand to recover a sulky ferret that had 

 " laid up," when Sharp suddenly raised his head 

 and uttered a quick exclamation. We looked over 

 the hedge, and there was to be seen a couple of 

 greyhounds closely pursuing a hare in the direc- 

 tion of our present position. Sharp in a low voice 

 enjoined us to keep still, and in another moment 

 the hare passed through a gap — about ten yards 

 away — closely followed by the two dogs. The 

 keeper raised his gun and killed both dogs dead 

 on the spot with a clean right and left. He then 

 dropped his gun, and seizing both the bodies, threw 

 them into the hole we had dug, and in a moment 

 they were covered. 



I confess I was a bit horrified at the suddenness 

 of it all, but when the two owners of the dogs came 

 strolling up and asked if we had seen two grey- 



