160 The Amateur Poacher 



utterly woe-begone in his whole aspect so weather- 

 beaten, as if he had been rained upon ever since 

 childhood. He seemed humbled to the ground 

 crushed and spiritless. 



Now and then Luke was employed by some of 

 the farmers to do their ferreting for them and to catch 

 the rabbits in the banks by the roadside. More 

 than once benevolent people driving by in their cosy 

 cushioned carriages, and seeing this lonely wretch in 

 the bitter wind watching a rabbit's hole as if he were 

 a dog well beaten and thrashed, had been known 

 to stop and call the poor old fellow to the carriage 

 door. Then Luke would lay his hand on his knee, 

 shake his head, and sorrowfully state his pains and 

 miseries : ' Aw, I be ter-rable bad, I be/ he would 

 say; 'I be most terrable bad : I can't but just drag 

 my leg out of this yer ditch. It be a dull job, bless 

 'ee, this yer. 1 The tone, the look of the man, the 

 dreary winter landscape all so thoroughly agreed 

 together that a few small silver coins would drop into 

 his hand, and Luke, with a deep groaning sigh of 

 thankfulness, would bow and scrape and go back to 

 his dull job.' 



Luke, indeed, somehow or other was always in 

 favour with the * quality/ He was as firmly fixed in 

 his business as if he had been the most clever courtier. 



