MERTON IN GOOD FORM 73 



and it was my best shot of the season to end 

 up with. 



Merton, too, had a glorious wind up, as he got 

 two stags on the West Hill on the 15th. He was 

 lucky to get them, as they stumbled on them 

 in " the way they have in the army," and there 

 was very little stalking about it; but still, one 

 must have a bit of good luck sometimes, and, 

 anyway, Merton made no mistake or the luck 

 would have been useless; and his reward was one 

 very fine stag weighing 16 stone 1 pound, with a 

 very fine wide head, 8-pointer and 30-inch span, 

 and stout, rough, black horns. Needless to say, 

 it was quickly despatched to Macpherson to be 

 set up; but as it could not be got in that day, 

 and we were going south the next, I have not 

 yet seen it, which I am dying to when it adorns 

 the walls of Hampton Court Palace. His other 

 stag was quite a good beast for so late in the season, 

 and weighed 14 stone 9 pounds; he was a 9-pointer 

 with only a moderate head. 



And now " The play is finished," as they say 

 in Pagliacci and a glorious five years it has been, 

 in spite of the war with its cruel blows and eternal 

 strain. However, that is now all over, and only 

 the scars remain. And we are top dog, owing to 

 that unfortunate habit of the British of always 

 winning one battle in a war, and that the last 

 one ! And so it has not been all in vain, and 

 by next season, probably, the deer-forests will be 



