72 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



on the scene a second time, it was gone, and 

 all the snares too. So we returned home again, 

 having drawn a blank. 



Three or four nights after this, my father 

 went into a public house, to pay the landlord 

 for a pig he had bought off him, and, incidently, 

 to have a drink. Whilst he was there, the 

 landlord took down a rabbit from off a hook, 

 and, holding it up, said : — 



" There, Luke, you can't get rabbits like that." 



Father took it and examined it, pronouncing it 

 to be one of the best he had ever seen. " I 

 should like to get some of that stock to turn down 

 in White's Wood gorse," said he, carelessly. 

 *' Where might it come from ? " 



" I don't know where it come from," replied 

 the landlord. " But I bought it off Harry 

 Wright, the miller, last Tuesday." 



This was the very rabbit I had lost out of my 

 pocket, so we then knew all about it, for the 

 hedge where the snares were set was only one 

 field from Harry Wright's mill. On enquiring, 

 we learnt that Wright took night turns with 

 another man, at the mill, he on, one night, and 



