10 LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 



the rest of the guests went in a body to their host, and 

 told him they would not again take the field with this 

 reckless man. Now, the culprit was a foreigner of 

 distinction, and his host was at his wits' end to know 

 how to make matters go pleasantly for all concerned, 

 until at last he hit on a happy idea, and, calling to 

 his dangerous friend across the breakfast table, he 

 announced that for him he had that day reserved the 

 post of honour, and that he was to go bustard shooting 

 on Salisbury Plain ; but he did not add that these birds 

 were extinct, and none had been seen for many years. 

 Delighted at the honour conferred on him and the envious 

 expressions of his fellow-guests at his good luck, off went 

 the stranger in charge of a keeper duly primed as to his 

 part of the business. 



At the end of the day, when the party again all met, 

 the bustard stalker rushed up to his host, and, while 

 thanking him very warmly for his kindness, announced 

 as a matter-of-course sort of event that he had killed, 

 not one, but two bustards ! 



I am credibly told this story is a fact, and that 



