198 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



from this property than any other for miles, and it's 

 all owing to this here stick. A bit of ash is the best 

 physic for poaching as I knows on.' 



I suspect that he is a little mistaken in his 

 belief that it is the dread of his personal prowess 

 which keeps trespassers away — it is rather due to his 

 known vigilance and watchfulness. His rather hasty 

 notions of taking the law into his own hands are 

 hardly in accord with the spirit of the times ; but 

 some allowance must be made for the circumstances 

 of his life, and it is my object to picture the man as 

 he is. 



There are other dangers from guns beside these. 

 A brown gaiter indistinctly seen moving some dis- 

 tance off in the tall dry grass or fern — the wearer 

 hidden by the bushes — has not unfrequently been 

 mistaken for game in the haste and excitement of 

 shooting, and received a salute of leaden hail. This 

 is a danger to which sportsman and keeper are both 

 liable, especially when large parties are engaged in 

 rapid firing ; sometimes a particular corner gets very 

 \ hot,' being enfiladed for the moment by several guns. 

 Yet, when the great number of men who shoot is con- 

 sidered, the percentage of serious accidents is small 

 indeed ; more fatal accidents probably happen 

 through unskilled persons thoughtlessly playing with 



