PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 189 



"Whir! whir!" 



"Bang! bang!" 



Both birds down ; both dogs steady as statues ! 

 Now charge the empty barrel, and if a bird 

 should rise before you have capped, let it go. 

 You remember the pair of barrels which we 

 saw at Krider's last spring, the left hand one 

 rent at the middle, just where the head of the 

 rod reached, when the hasty gentleman fired at 

 the snipe. 



"Ready?" 



" All ready." 



" Now kick the boughs on your side." 



"Whir! whir! whir! whir-!" 



"Bang! bang! bang! bang!" 



There goes another and another, shooting 

 through the trees ; they are the last, for see the 

 dogs are off their points; those birds were killed 

 in a style which reflects credit on the art ; six 

 down ; we will charge, retrieve the dead birds, 

 and push on to a second stubble-field. 



You observe how long Dash was in finding 

 this bird, although I knew the very spot where 

 it fell : he passed and re-passed within a few 

 feet of it several times before he discovered it ; 

 death having suddenly suspended all the vital 

 phenomena, the dog was in a similar position to 



