96 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



he used to go to Odd's Wood adjoining Bois' 

 Wood, Odd's Wood being on one side of a hill 

 and Bois' Wood on the other, with a ditch 

 between them. On the top of Bois' Wood is a 

 summer house, and here old Dick used to 

 arrive, about one o'clock ever}' day, to have his 

 dinner and a pipe under shelter. "The daily 

 round the common task," was ever the same 

 with Dick, and one day was like another, as 

 one green pea resembles another green pea. 



I used to dodge into a wood at one end, one 

 time, and at another end, another time, making 

 it a rule never to go the same way twice. Then, 

 too, I constantly changed my dress, im- 

 personating all kinds of people — mechanics, 

 carpenters, and the like. A favourite dodge of 

 mine was the carpenter ' fake ' ; I used, for 

 this, to wear a white apron and a blue jacket, 

 or, sometimes, a white flannel jacket, and to 

 carry with me a carpenter's flail, handsaw, and 

 axe. Sometimes I would go as a tramp with 

 matches to sell, and sometimes as a ploughboy, 

 wearing a white smock, going home with his 

 bundle. It was almost always necessary to 



