XXXVI 



A COMMON EXPERIENCE 



The keenest of the sportsman's dis- 

 appointments is not a blank day, nor a 

 series of misses, unaccountable or too 

 well accountable to a blundering hand or 

 unsteady nerves, nor adverse weather, 

 nor gun or tackle broken in the midst of 

 sport, nor perversity of dogs, nor uncon- 

 geniality of comradeship, nor yet even 

 the sudden cold or the spell of rheuma- 

 tism that prevents his taking the field 

 on the allotted morning. 



All these may be but for a day. To- 

 morrow may bring game again to haunts 

 now untenanted, restore cunning to the 

 awkward hand, steady the nerves, mend 

 the broken implement, make the dogs 

 obedient and bring pleasanter comrades 

 or the comfortable lonesomeness of one's 

 own companionship, and to-morrow or 

 next day or next week the cold and 

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