376 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



more easily imagined than describecl, when up in the 

 direct line of my ball sprang Lord Grantley, calling 

 out loudly, and by his side were flourished two legs 

 only, among the heather and fern. My bullet had hit 

 the very stone behind which Lord Grantley had 

 screened himself from the observation of the deer, on 

 the fnce of which it flattened and split with such a 

 whiz, as induced old MacGregor to aid his chance of 

 safety by rolling over, and hence the startling ap- 

 pearance of the flourished legs ! It was no fault of 

 mine; the fact was Lord Grantley had reversed his 

 position, having as he thought counted the discharge 

 by the keepers of our guns at Dall, and enumerated 

 among them the report of my rifle, and by that he ar- 

 rived at the conclusion that I had gone home. No one 

 the worse for it, we had a good laugh at MacGregor'o 

 roll, but it served as a caution for the future. I have 

 been struck twice only by shot, once in the knee and 

 once in the cheek, and in neither instance was the 

 shooter in the least to blame. In the first instance 

 my brother, Mr. Moreton Berkeley, killed a pheasant 

 flying over an oak tree, and one shot striking either 

 the bird or a bough, glanced downwards and hit my 

 knee sufficiently to draw blood. In the other, Mr. 

 Sansom in Odell Wood, shot at a woodcock going 

 over the copse, and a shot again glanced downwards 

 and drew blood from my cheek, hitting me hard 

 enough to have done mischief if it had touched the 

 eye. If I go out with dangerous guns, it is my plan 

 not only to take care of myself, but of them also, 

 and to put or keep them in such positions, that they 

 cannot injure their friends ; and by this many accidents 

 I am sure have been avoided 



Tlie most amusing accident that ever was related 



I 



