SHOOTING EXTRAORDINARY. 299 



join in and make up the ten pounds, if he 

 Hked. I did not care if there were forty in the 

 swim against me and my fat hog, but no one 

 along the line dared take up my challenge." 



" How was that, Wilkins ? " asked Warner. 



" Well, they had seen me sparrow shooting 

 with a party of four, when I beat all the four, 

 on Castle Hills. I offered to bet any man a 

 sovereign that I would shoot a cricket ball 

 thrown by him. I was to stand near him, and 

 he might throw it in any way he liked — up in 

 the air, down on the ground, ducks and drakes 

 style, bounding as it went along, back behind 

 him, straight before him, in any way he liked, 

 without telling me beforehand. No one 

 accepted my offer. Then I wanted him to 

 bet me ten pounds that I couldn't hit ninety- 

 nine out of a hundred potatoes thrown up in 

 the air." 



" You couldn't hit ninety-nine out of a hun- 

 dred now, Wilkins," said Warner. 



" I know I can." 



" I'll bet you a sovereign you can't," said 

 Warner, and I took the bet. We fixed on a 



