BLACKGAME 255 



Cautiously peering between the stones, 

 you see what looks like great black 

 turkeys strutting about, not fifty yards in 

 front of you, while the low dyke dividing 

 the two stubbles has a living black coping 

 its whole length. 



Soon the first cock rises off the dyke 

 and flies low between you ; he is allowed 

 to pass in peace, to make sure of the big 

 lot coming on, and your forbearance has 

 its reward, for a minute later a great 

 black mass is bearing down upon you. 



You find it very different shooting to 

 the drives of the morning ; then the birds 

 were thirty feet or more above your head, 

 and could be taken more or less coolly, 

 like ordinary pheasants. This time it 

 takes all your powers of self-control to 

 keep your head and subdue your wild 

 desire to let drive into the thick of them, 

 as they come low over the stubble and 

 rise to the dyke within a few feet of your 

 gun. 



You grip your gun like a vice and 

 clench your teeth to steady shaking hand 



