CHAPTER VIII. 



DABBER HARDING AND OLD SARAH. 



'T^HIS was a snaring job, which my father 

 •^ had found out. Having received my 

 instructions, I left German House, and walked 

 about two hundred yards to the back of the 

 town, where there was a long strip of a planta- 

 tion ; into this I dived and, at the end of it, 

 came upon a quick-set hedge full of snares. 

 These I watched for about two hours, when a 

 man called Dapper or Dabber Harding ap- 

 peared, carrying a gun, and proceeded to beat 

 the plantation up and down. After looking 

 through it carefully he came and examined the 

 snares, and then made off towards Odd's Wood, 

 Father had given me orders to stay by the 

 snares till he came, so I remained there until 



