WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. US 



likely to shoot a gentleman in his own house, 

 with bird-shot, so long as quails were to be 

 had. 



" You have no business here : what are 

 you after ? " I repeated. 



" Looking for a lost hen," said the man 

 as he strode away. 



The reply was so satisfactory and conclu- 

 sive that I shut the blinds and went to bed. 



But one evening I overhauled one of the 

 poachers. Hearing his dog in the thicket, I 

 rushed through the brush, and came in sight 

 of the hunter as he was retreating down the 

 road. He came to a halt, and we had some 

 conversation in a high key. Of course I 

 threatened to prosecute him. I believe that 

 is the thing to do in such cases ; but how I 

 was to do it, when I did not know his name 

 or ancestry, and could n't see his face, never 

 occurred to me. (I remember, now, that a 

 farmer once proposed to prosecute me when 

 I was fishing in a trout-brook on his farm, 

 and asked my name for that purpose.) He 

 said he should smile to see me prosecute him. 



