86 CHASING AND RACING 



not be walked up was driven. They came over at 

 top speed, down wind and very high. By a lucky 

 fluke I accomplished a startling right and left. (I say 

 ** lucky fluke/* because I have always considered that 

 driven partridges show up my weakest spot.) 

 Sometimes I was almost brilliant ; at others, after 

 mufling my first shot, I would become demoralized ; 

 begin ** poking " at my birds and appearing an 

 absolute " wash out.'* But this was indeed a pleasant 

 start. I was so bucked up that I was well on the spot 

 all day, and at the end, topped the Rev. Edward's score 

 by one and a half brace ! It was ** some " shooting I 

 can tell you ; for neither of us let many opportunities 

 pass. All his Reverence said at the count was, " Yes, 

 you can shoot, I give you best ! " 



The Squire had three grown-up sons. All inherited 

 the family love of sport. At Shardeloes there was an 

 extensive lake which held leviathan pike and other 

 hefty specimens of the finny tribe. I had leave to fish 

 whenever I cared to ask ; but was never lucky enough 

 to have a real good day with Esox lucius ; the biggest 

 that ever fell to my rod in those waters being an un- 

 considered trifle of 6| lbs., which happened, by the 

 way, to be the exact weight of the largest trout taken at 

 Missenden Abbey, the lucky angler in that case being 

 my younger brother-in-law, Ronald Barlow, who was 

 very keen on the sport. 



The Shardeloes lake was fed, as were the Abbey 

 pools, by the Misburn, and might have teemed with 



