BEAGLING 189 



spot perhaps twenty yards away, would quite (|uietly 

 remark, ' There she sets ! ' Surely enough there she 

 did sit ; though as often as not his eye alone could 

 discern Madam Puss crouched in her heathery form. 

 A wonderfully observant man he must have been, and 

 great fun we used to have about him ; but as to re- 

 claiming him, you might as well have asked him not 

 to eat— or drink, for it must be regretfully admitted he 

 was at least as fond of liquid as of solid nourishment. 



He was often in gaol— always for poaching — and, 

 as the keeper used to say, 'The Long 'un always 

 came out fatter than he went in ! ' so his home fare 

 was probably neither plentiful in quantity nor of an 

 Epicurean quality. He never bore malice, as the 

 following incident shows. He had been in gaol for 

 poaching on the common above described. His 

 sentence expired on a Saturday, and as a party of us 

 were walking on the following Sunday afternoon along 

 one of the footpaths which thread the common, who 

 should appear round a corner but our friend, just 

 fresh from gaol. 



What did he do? Why, he lifted his hat, and 

 wished us good-day in the cheeriest manner possible, 

 just as if he had met us by appointment to help find 

 a hare for the beagles. 



Probably he was there for no very legitimate 



