298 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



piece thrown up in the air. I did not want to 

 bet, for I knew he would lose, as he was no 

 shot, but he persisted, saying that he was on 

 the spree and did not care a snap so long as 

 he had a shot or two. So I bet him that he 

 would not hit the penny piece ; he shot and 

 missed, and shot again and missed, and yet 

 a third time and missed. 



" You are only throwing your money away» 

 Warner," said I. " You wouldn't hit one in a 

 hundred." 



" I don't suppose I should," replied he, 

 ruefully. " Could you hit one thrown up in 

 the air?" 



" Why, yes. I offered to bet John Kendall, 

 the manager of the railway works at the time 

 the railway from Bishop Stortford to Peter- 

 borough was being made, that I would hit 

 ninety-nine out of a hundred of anything 

 thrown up in the air. I was to stake my fat 

 hog, which weighed nearly seventy stone, 

 against ten pounds, and I said that Kendall 

 might have nine men with a pound each, or 

 nineteen men with half-a-sovereign each, to 



