COCK-SHOOTING IN ACHIL. 355 



him that I was not certain to be struck before we returned 

 home. Every precaution to evade his shot was useless. 

 If in a copse of a mile long there was a solitary opening 

 to admit its passage, he was opposite it to a certainty ; 

 and my first intimation that such an alley did exist, 

 would be a fall of withered leaves from the bushes 

 above, and most likely a few grains lodging in my hat 

 or jacket. If I moved to avoid a chance of accident, 

 something induced him to make a corresponding change ; 

 and at last I became so nervous that I obliged him 

 momently to call out, that I might ascertain our relative 

 positions, and guard, if possible, against injury. 



We once, during a severe frost, shot the beautiful 

 islands in the lake of Castlebar, which belong to the 

 Marquis of Sligo. There were an immense number of 

 cocks in cover, and we had been particularly successful ; 

 but the wonder was, I had that day escaped unwounded, 

 and my prayer to " keep lead out of me " had been 

 heard. On our return, my friend was pluming himself 

 on this result. " It was foolish," he said, " to reckon 

 him unlucky. To be sure, some shots of his had been 

 unfortunate, but such would ever be the case." We had 

 now left off shooting, and were within a few fields of the 

 barracks, when a jack snipe sprang from a drain on the 

 road side, and flying to the top of the field, pitched in 

 the upper ditch. I followed it merely to discharge my 

 barrels it sprang, and the report of my gun disturbed 

 a hare in the bottom of the field ; she moved, and my 

 companion instantly discharged both barrels. From 

 the hardness of the surface, the shot rose ; a shower fell 

 upon the protected parts of my person, while two struck 

 me on the lip, and cut me deeply. I was more than 

 one hundred yards from him, yet from the hard frost, the 



