CATCHING MY FIRST POACHER. 51 



so I chose Monk's Wood. This wood is a 

 great favorite with poachers, as it lay only one 

 field from Weedon Hill Road and Coppey son's 

 Lane. A hedge came straight from the 

 Chesham Road and the lane from Amersham 

 Common, and from Weedon 's Hill the road 

 from Chesham to Hyde Heath Common went 

 straight to Monk's Wood, so that poachers 

 could steal along the road, covered all the way 

 by the hedge. As I delighted in a good chase 

 and a rough and tumble " scrap," I agreed to 

 take Monk's Wood, and this father allowed me 

 to do, because I was the best runner of the lot. 

 The poachers always took to their heels, and 

 bolted off for one of the roads I have named 

 whenever they were disturbed. Father, how- 

 ever, would not always let me keep to my 

 wood, but made changes in our beats. He 

 sometimes took Monk's Wood, and sent me to 

 Bishop's Hill, Old Wellington's Copse, and New 

 Wellington's Copse, all three of which were 

 adjoining, and formed one man's beat. This, 

 too, was the best beat for poachers, next to 

 Monk's Wood, as they could get into it by the 



