266 SPORTING STORIES 



good with partridges ? " Captain Ross said he was as good 

 at partridges as at pigeons, and as Lord de Ros expressed 

 his doubts on that point, a match was made. 



Lord de Ros's terms were that Captain Ross should 

 present himself on the first day of the following November 

 at Mildenhall in Suffolk, ready to shoot partridges against 

 anyone he produced. The competitors were to start at 

 sunrise, no dogs were to be used, while the two antagonists 

 were to keep in line about fifty yards apart. Each was to 

 use a single-barrelled gun, that they should load them- 

 selves, the birds need not be picked up, but if a partridge 

 was seen by the umpires to fall it was to be considered a 

 dead bird. The stakes were ;^200 a side, and bets to a 

 large amount were laid by the friends of Captain Ross and 

 the Unknown. 



Captain Ross, when he arrived at Mildenhall, found that 

 his opponent was to be Colonel Anson. The two break- 

 fasted by candle-light with Lord de Ros ; and before day- 

 break both were waiting in the fields for the signal to start. 

 The morning was foggy, but, taking Greenwich time for the 

 sun's appearance, they started without him, just as if he 

 had been a traveller late for a train. Colonel Anson, then 

 in his thirty-second year and a fast walker, went off at a 

 rapid pace, hoping to break Ross down by out-walking him ; 

 but the Captain was rather glad to see his opponent 

 forcing the running, as he was himself in splendid 

 condition, and well able to keep going at his best speed 

 for fourteen or sixteen hours. 



For some time after the start Colonel Anson had much 

 the best of it, and at two o'clock was seven birds ahead. 

 Shortly afterwards Squire Osbaldeston, who had guessed 

 that Ross was playing a waiting game, and had backed 

 him heavily, rode up and said, " Now go along, Ross, as 

 hard as you can — he will lie down " ; and, acting upon this 

 advice, Ross at once put on steam, and a quarter of an hour 

 before sunset Mr Charles Greville rode up to him to 

 propose that the match should be drawn, for although 

 Colonel Anson was one bird ahead, he was so done up that 

 he could not walk any farther. 



" I had about a thousand pounds depending upon the 



