184 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



who lets go with two guns at them immediately, and in all prob- 

 ability brings down two geese, for he shoots very well ; the instant 

 the leaders gun is off, bang ! bang ! bang ! go everybody else, at 

 any distance, resolved to have some fun while it is safe to do so. 

 These guns herein mentioned were similar to the one used 

 by the noted goose-stalking Roxburghshire blacksmith, who, at 

 the request of Lord Wemyss, showed his lordship how to load 

 his weapon, and then the way in which he was to stalk and kill 

 a wild-goose. Having called on the smith in his shop, the man 

 produced from a corner, from the midst of other rusty old iron, 

 a bell-muzzled gun about six feet long, and going to an old 

 flower-pot not far off the forge, he dipped his hand into it, and 

 produced rather an extensive palm filled with powder : this he 

 trickled down the gun, topping it up with a large wad of brown 

 paper. The sporting artificer next dived his arm into a pro- 

 miscuous heap of ashes and old iron, and grasped as many nail 

 heads and fragments of his trade as his fingers could compass, 

 when these three-cornered and incongruous remnants were 

 dropped in after the powder, and again crammed with brown 

 paper, till the tallness of the charge within was only surpassed by 

 the height of the instrument without. Having loaded his gun, 

 assuring his lordship that these missiles were infinitely more 

 deadly than shot, the blacksmith led the way to the wilds in 

 which a flock of geese were feeding. Lord Wemyss from the 

 high ground watched the sequel. Nothing could be better or 

 more sportsmanlike than the way the smith availed himself of 

 every rise or fall in the land to cover his approach ; but, not 

 content with getting to within the usual wild-fowl distance, the 

 illustrator of the noble art still crawled on till there was some 

 doubt in the spectator's mind if the geese would not be aroused 

 to a sense of their danger by a thrust from the old bell-muzzle. 

 The stalker, however, paused at the distance of about thirty 

 yards, took ten minutes 1 aim, and then an enormous report was 

 heard amidst a volume of smoke and cries from the wild-geese, 

 who rose in much confusion, leaving one or two fluttering on the 

 ground behind them. The smoke clearing away, the blacksmith 



