AN ECCENTRIC NEIGHBOUR 101 



I was clad in a hunting suit of dry grass 

 colour, while my companion's was not unlike 

 it, so, after sneaking along, with a fence 

 between us and the game, for a couple of 

 hundred yards, we gradually settled on to all- 

 fours, and crept up to the fence without dis- 

 turbing them ; but we were then fully 80 yards 

 away too far for a successful shot, so we lay 

 stretched out at full length, awaiting develop- 

 ments, hoping, of course, they would feed 

 towards us. Now, my friend had a very 

 eccentric neighbour, an old country bachelor, 

 who thought he owned all creation, or, at 

 least, had a claim on it, and was unwilling 

 that others should have what he could not. 

 He had evidently seen those geese as soon 

 as I did, for they were on his property, and 

 he had been watching our movements, as 

 we noticed him going towards his house 

 shortly after we started. By the time we had 

 reached the fence, we looked up the field and 

 saw a steer coming towards the geese, and 

 could see that old scamp pardon me for the 

 contemptuous term, but it is the correct one 

 walking alongside of him, but concealed from 

 the birds, thus hoping, as he did, to start 



