360 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



and asked him about the four men who had 

 knocked him about, but he had not recognized 

 any of them, and they have not been found 

 out 'till this day. He partly recovered, but 

 was never the same man afterwards ; he had 

 to have some one to go about with him always, 

 and keep him from beer, for if he took a little 

 beer he became just like a madman. He lost 

 his place on this account, went into a mad- 

 house — as they were called in those days — and 

 died raving mad. He was as fine a man as I 

 have ever met — tall, strong, and well-made. 

 Thus the poachers took vengeance on him 

 for his unfairness in knocking them down 

 like rats. 



Of course, if a poacher shows fight, you 

 are bound to do your duty, and capture him 

 the best way you can ; but I am afraid that, 

 in many cases, it is the keeper who first 

 provokes the poacher to commit a breach of 

 the peace. Go up to them civilly, as you 

 would to any other men, not in a rough 

 bouncing way as if you were going to drive 

 them and all the nation before you, for that 



