76 LEAVES FKOM A GAME BOOK. 



lightning flash descends from the skies. Later in the 

 afternoon I asked the Viscount why he had declined 

 to divide, and learnt from him that he had taken a 

 bet of a thousand pounds to thirty against his winning 

 outright from the late Mr. Bachelor — the ever popular 

 " Sam " — who often made a book of a thousand 

 pounds on the shooting events in which there were 

 large numbers of competitors. Luckily for me, the 

 Viscount thought — goodness only knows why — that I 

 wished to go halves in this bet, as well as halves in the 

 pool ! Perhaps the fact of my French being rusty, and 

 his English being nil, helped to complicate matters. 

 Thus luckily I secured the entire stake and prize, while, 

 as Bachelor had laid me two hundred pounds to eight 

 against myself, the total win amounted to £750. Cheer- 

 fully did the lamented " Sam " hand me this money, for 

 it was all he had laid against the winner, as directly 

 I had killed a bird or two, and he saw I was " in form," 

 he astutely kept me as a good outsider to shoot for his 

 book, and thus my win was a real good thing for him 

 also. 



