16 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



accompanied by a pair of twins, and by the 

 same subtle imaginative process he was enabled 

 to raise three guns to his shoulders, and press 

 three triggers simultaneously as soon as the 

 quarry came into sight. It is not therefore to 

 be wondered at that he should have acquired 

 an exceptionally high reputation as a sports- 

 man, and if by chance he ever failed to bring 

 down his bird, it was only because he was 

 sometimes careless enough to aim at the outside 

 pheasant with the inside gun or vice-versa. In 

 spite of such accidents (which may happen to 

 the least inebriated amongst us) Lord Burling- 

 ham was almost invariably the hero of every 

 day's sport in which he engaged. His return 

 home became a kind of triumphal progress, and 

 many a jealous glance was cast in his direction 

 by his more sober comrades as he staggered up 

 the carriage-drive, performing an original ver- 

 sion of the Tango, with the support of two 

 sympathetic beaters who admired his dancing 

 almost as much as they envied his infinite 

 capacity for alcoholic ingurgitation. At the 

 end of the day it was generally found that his 

 bag largely exceeded that of any other gun, 

 and sporting members of the local Young Men's 

 Christian Association, inspired by his example, 

 would hasten home to break their lifelong 

 pledges of total abstinence, hoping in this 



