POACHERS AND POACHING. 45 



implicate a man in a hurry, or, as we should express 

 it, to make a job of it beforehand. " I have not 

 found you at work, and I hope you won't give me 

 the chance ; but you are trespassing, so you clear 

 out," was the sort of exhortation given. One man 

 who was caught red-handed, before they led him off, 

 after he had been convicted, said to the keeper: 

 "You warned me right enough, an' I've got it, 

 three months hard ; but you ain't got nuthin' to do 

 with that, fur I bin up afore, fur a job in another 

 place." Then he added wistfully, " If you has a 

 broken rabbit at any time, fur mercy sake, let 'em 

 have it," meaning his wife and children. 



To this appeal the man addressed answered, 

 " Confound you ! Do you mean me to help to keep 

 them, now you are going ? I never heard of such 

 confounded impudence ! " The poacher knew full 

 well, however, in spite of this speech, that he had 

 not appealed in vain. The same head-keeper a 

 man in the full sense of the word one of our great 

 animal painters painted the portrait of his magnifi- 

 cent retriever with a pheasant in his mouth, and 

 presented it to him, said one morning, " We have 

 got Ned, Squire." 



