54 AN OLD SPORTSMAN. 



who would be at the dead or wounded bird 

 first. The sequel of this was, that I had to 

 fight with them both for my game, and often 

 came off with the worst share, Bob acquiring 

 an appetite for raw snipe, which no subsequent 

 flagellations on the part of my uncle could cure 

 him of. I remember, indeed, that on his dis- 

 covering our delinquencies (which he did when 

 Sill and Bob, to his horror, made a dive and a 

 grab into a covey of partridges), that he swore 

 like the army in Flanders, and threatened to 

 deprive me of all accoutrements if I did not, 

 within one month, bring the dogs back to a 

 sense of decorum. It was with some difficulty 

 this was effected ; the brutes had forgotten the 

 commandments of " down shot " and " ware 

 fence," and it was only by roaring myself 

 hoarse and exercising a stoic vigilance over my 

 own legs, that I reduced them once more to 

 some kind of decent regard for the first prin- 

 ciples of a shooting-dog's morality. 



We did not confine our expeditions to the 

 daytime. There were clear frosty nights in 

 winter, when the stars sparkled, and you could 

 hear the dreary calls of curlew or the thin pipe 



