320 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



" Oh ! I see, Humphries, you think / am 

 going to watch them, and not my keeper, 

 Watts. Go into the house and have what you 

 Hke to eat and drink, and then take away 

 enough food and drink to last you two or 

 three days into the spring. Watch those 

 snares, never leaving them night or day, and 

 if you catch the poacher that comes to them 

 I will give you a sovereign." Then Humphries 

 touched his hat and departed ; Mr. Fowle had 

 set him a hard job, too hard for him to carry 

 out. 



Mr. Fowle was a shrewd, far-sighted man, 

 who could see as far as most people through a 

 nine inch wall, and directly Humphries told 

 him that he had not been to Watts, Mr. Fowle 

 saw right through him. Mr. Fowle was then 

 just going away for a few days, and when he 

 returned he sent for Humphries, to ask him 

 how he had been getting on with the pheasant 

 snares. *' Did anyone come to them ? " he 

 asked. 



" No, sir." 



"What! No one?" 



