32 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



me, if he swung for it ; but that was only talk 

 for talk's sake, on his part, for he heard me in 

 the house, speaking with his son-in-law, and 

 recognised my voice. The fact is that Dell was 

 enraged at my returning to Chesham, even on 

 a visit. My father was dead, I had left Chesham 

 in '40, and Dick left soon afterwards, so that 

 when Dell came back from abroad — a compara- 

 tively rich man, I believe — he declared that he 

 had been wrongfully convicted, thinking that 

 there would be none to speak to the contrary- 

 I am no lawyer, but it seems to me that the case 

 against them was as clear as could be ; I knew 

 both poachers, ever since I was seven years old, 

 and recognized them that night in Monk's 

 Wood, when they asked me about their donkeys. 

 If they were innocent, why did they both bolt 

 the very night that my father and Dick caught 

 them ? Why did Dell come home and give 

 himself up to the Constables ? Above all, why 

 did Dell split upon his mate ; a shabby piece of 

 business whether he were guilty or not ? Thus 

 it is no wonder that Dell was enraged at my 

 turning up again, and George Rose, a man who 



