3l8 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



"Yes, I did." 



"Did Wilkins know of it ? " 



" No, I'm too old a bird to let anyone else 

 know. Look here, Watts, there's three or 

 four foxes in there, if you like to stand at this 

 end of the cover I will go to the other end 

 and walk down the cover towards you, a brace 

 or so is sure to come up to you, and, if you 

 bowl them over, I'll help you put them under 

 the turf." 



Watts was too old a bird to be caught by 

 that kind of chaff. " No, Humphries," he 

 replied. " It would be more than my place is 

 worth." 



"Oh, very well," said Humphries. "If 

 you're afraid I'm not, so give me the gun, and 

 you go and drive the wood towards me. I 

 don't mind knocking them over if you do." 

 But Watts was not to be had on that tack, 

 either. 



Humphries related this to me himself, after- 

 wards, when he was starting for Austraha_ 

 " Of course," he said. " If a fox had been 

 killed, I should have split about it, letting 



