EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 15 



upon me the way the thing really ought to be 

 done. " They don't know who's about, you 

 see," he went on. " And, if you show your- 

 self, and make a row, they're sure to bolt ; what 

 we want is to prevent them taking our hares." 



" Very good, father," said I; and so he 

 turned on his heel and left me, and very proud 

 of my job I was, too. 



I kept a sharp look out, eyes and ears on the 

 alert, but there was nothing moving until dark ; 

 then, owing I suppose to the strain on my 

 nerves, I fancied I heard a rustle, and started 

 up, but, to my great disappointment, my 

 poachers turned out to be a hare or a rabbit. 

 So I sat on for a long time, until I began to 

 wonder what had become of father ; could he 

 have got a job on in some other wood, or had 

 he forgotten me altogether ? It appeared, 

 subsequently, that the latter was the case. 



Father reached home, and put on his list 

 slippers ; lit his pipe, and settled himself com- 

 fortably in a chair, when my mother asked what 

 had become of the boy. 



" What ! ain't he home yet ? " asked father, 

 laconically. 



