362 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



they quite as rough as poachers ? I would as 

 soon face a poacher as a burglar, any day of 

 the week. I have often assisted the poUce to 

 catch thieves who were making a raid on 

 a farmer's corn at night, and afterwards 

 marched them to the pohce station, often a 

 distance of seven or eight miles. I have been 

 with the police officer at the sheepfold, in 

 Wiltshire, when men have come to steal the 

 farmer's sheep, and have gone with him the 

 next day, to assist him in searching sixteen 

 tents belonging to a gipsy encampment. 

 Then I had to run the gauntlet of the foulest 

 language I ever heard, which the women used 

 as freely as the men, as I stood by to protect 

 the police officer whilst he searched. 



I have been connected with the police ever 

 since the year 1840. A gamekeeper is really 

 as much an officer as a policeman ; but, 

 whereas the keeper has only to protect his 

 master's game, the policeman, in country 

 districts, has to protect the game and the 

 keeper as well. 



Whenever I caught any poachers at night, 



