UNUSUAL SHOTS. 129 



next, and up charged the rest of our family expecting to find one corpse 

 at least on the premises, if not two. 



They found us looking rather blankly out of the window. That con- 

 founded Owl! it had just done the one thing that neither of us had anticipated. 

 We had expected it to fall off the chimney-pot, down the roof, and into 

 the lane below, and the programme was to let it lie there until it got a 

 bit darker and the excitement had cooled down. Not a bit of it ; the moment 

 it was hit, it threw up its wings, waltzed once madly round the chimney- 

 pot, and then to our unspeakable confusion disappeared down the inside. 

 It was with no small relief that we learnt the Canon was away, and 

 not returning till the morrow. There were only the servants to be dealt with ; 

 so we set off, rang the bell, and stating that "we had reason to believe" 

 there was an Owl in one of their chimneys, which might give trouble 

 during the night, we considerately offered to relieve them of so uncanny 

 a visitor. No questions were asked as to the grounds for this belief; the 

 offer was accepted with alacrity, and we were soon escorted to the attic 

 to which the chimney was supposed to belong. I reconnoitred it with 

 caution. The Owl was there, very much there, so was his beak and so were 

 his claws. Moreover, he occupied a commanding position on a narrow ledge 

 about a foot up. It was a situation we had not foreseen, and it was 

 complicated by the absurd behaviour of the servants. They had had time 

 to put two and two together, and, having grasped that the Owl was wounded 

 and therefore doubtless vicious, they clamoured wildly for its expulsion. No 

 one, however, showed any symptoms of a desire to close with the creature, 

 and matters seemed verging towards a deadlock, when my brother suggested 

 getting a butterfly net. The net was brought, and I stole towards the 

 chimney, made a dab and missed, the result being that the Owl fluttered 

 up on to a higher ledge. 



Here was a poser, indeed ; in order to make another attempt it was 

 necessary to put one's head right into the chimney, and as the possibility of 

 having an eye extracted, in the endeavour to extract the Owl, evidently found 

 favour with no one, it was decided to leave him there for the night. One 

 servant did, it is true, suggest that the chimneys were connected, and 

 "what was there to prevent his getting into theirs?" I boldly asserted 

 that he was too much damaged to do this, and though the speed with 

 which I had retired from the recent tussle might well have thrown a doubt 

 upon the statement, the discrepancy escaped notice, the dcor was locked, 

 and we retired to think out a new plan of campaign for the morrow. No 

 one devised anything more brilliant than putting a longer stick in the 



K 



