74 LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 



the stone wall of the boundary was it seen to weaken 

 and fall dead against it. On Gist starting the 

 seventeenth round, he shot under a fast-rising bird 

 each time, which departed unscathed. The Viscount 

 killed, and I having followed suit, then asked him if 

 he would like to divide the added money of £350 

 (for the second prize was worth £100) and shoot 

 the match out for the cup ? To this suggestion Obert 

 shook his head determinedly, and politely declined the 

 offer. 



Now, I had already heard my opponent was one 

 of the " cracks " of Belgium, and handicapped in his 

 own club at 31 metres, or just over 33 yards ; so, as 

 I was now giving him two yards, when, according 

 to the handicapper, he should have been giving me 

 three, I did not feel very hopeful of victory. Closely 

 did I watch my antagonist take his place for the 

 eighteenth bird, and it struck me — though it may 

 have been but imagination — that he showed signs of 

 nervousness ; at any rate his bird, hit with both 

 barrels, wriggled over the wall, to fall dead outside, 



