212 The Amateur Poacher 



After firing these two shots we got back again as 

 speedily as possible, and once more assisted Little 

 John. We could not, however, quite resist the pleasure 

 of shooting a rabbit occasionally and so tormenting 

 him. We left one hole each side without a net, and 

 insisted on the removal of the net that stretched 

 across the top of the bank. This gave us a shot now 

 and then, and the removal of the cross net allowed the 

 rabbit some little law. 



Notwithstanding these drawbacks — to him — 

 .kittle John succeeded in making a good bag. He 

 : stayed till it was quite dark to dig out a ferret that 

 had killed a rabbit in the hole. He took his money 

 for his day's work with indifference : but when we 

 presented him with two couple of clean rabbits his 

 gratitude was too much for him to express. The 

 gnawn and ' blown ' rabbits [by shot] were his per- 

 quisite, the clean rabbits an unexpected gift. It was 

 not their monetary value ; it was the fact that they 

 were rabbits. 



The man's instinct for hunting was so strong that 

 it seemed to overcome everything else. He would 

 walk miles — after a long day's farm work — ^just to help 

 old Luke, the rabbit contractor, bring home the rabbits 

 in the evening from the Upper Woods. He worked 

 regularly for one farmer, and did his work well : he 



