GUN STORIES 267 



issue," says the Captain, " and had not had a shot for ten 

 minutes, so I came to the conclusion that at that late hour 

 when the birds were all out of the turnips and feeding on 

 the stubble, it was too much to risk on the chance of getting 

 a brace of birds in a quarter of an hour, therefore I agreed 

 to the proposition, I was as fresh as when I started, and 

 offered to walk to London there and then against anyone 

 for ;!^50o" — an offer no one present cared to accept. 



Well, then, there was the immortal "Old Squire," who 

 excelled in every sport in which he took part. Sir Richard 

 Sutton told my old friend Henry Marshall, of the Morning 

 Post, that he had seen the Squire kill 98 pheasants out of 

 100 shots; and in one day, at Ebberston, his own place, 

 he bagged 95 brace of partridges, 9 brace of hares, and 

 5 couples of rabbits — all to his own gun, with only an 

 attendant carrying a second gun. 



Mr Budd once backed the "Old Squire" to kill 80 

 brace of partridges in one day. " I handed him the gun," 

 says Mr Budd, " for every shot. He killed 97I brace, and 

 5 1 brace were picked up next day, so that he really killed 

 103 brace of partridges, 9 hares, and a rabbit in the day. 



I have already told one story of Captain Ross. Here 

 is another. There was a certain squire who was noted in 

 the mid-Victorian days for his stinginess and the strictness 

 with which he preserved his game, seldom inviting even 

 his most intimate friends for a day's shooting. This 

 niggardly pheasant-breeder was dining at a neighbour's 

 one evening, and was introduced to a stranger who made 

 himself exceedingly agreeable and, though he had an 

 effeminate and dandified air, contrived to ingratiate himself 

 with the crusty old squire. Presently the talk turned upon 

 shooting, " By Jove ! " drawled the young swell, with the 

 affected lisp of the period, " I am very fond of a day 

 with the gun, though, by Jove, I hardly ever hit anything. 

 Don't think I ever killed anything I aimed at in my life, 

 you know." 



The squire was rather amused with the stranger, and, 

 thinking it a good opportunity to be generous on the cheap, 

 invited him to have a day's sport. So it was agreed that 

 " Mr Pelham " — such was his name — should visit the squire 



