416 AN ENGLISH GAMEKEEPER. 



not permit any man to light a pipe until the 

 work was done and we started for home. 



When gate netting watching I used to leave 

 rather early, and before going away I always 

 knocked the ashes out of my pipe on to the 

 top of the gate, leaving the tobacco there 

 smouldering. If any poachers came they 

 would smell the tobacco, and suspect that I 

 was still in the neighbourhood, watching. 

 Often, too, in the woods, I have left two or 

 three sticks, with coats hung over them, 

 stuck up at the cross rides. Sometimes I 

 have left my lanthorn burning all night with 

 the bulls eye turned on, in the watch hut, 

 with three or four great coats and horse rugs 

 lying about. All these dodges are very 

 necessary, the poacher, when he comes after 

 your game, is very suspicious, and does not 

 want to be caught, so that if he sees a light 

 you may be sure that he will give it a wide 

 berth rather than go and see if you are there, 



I have known poachers come on a Christmas 

 Eve and walk through the rides of a wood, 

 firing several times, and knocking down five or 



