OULTON BROAD AND NEIGHBOURHOOD 9 



To say that Jack was proud of his new position is stating 

 it mildly. He cut many of his former associates it was well 

 he did so or he might have been dismissed from office sooner 

 than he appreciated but whether he really cut them, or 

 whether he had come to some secret arrangement was never 

 known. After events seemed to suggest that the ties between 

 them were cemented in private by many and deeper draughts 

 of treble X than his income would admit. Certain it was that 

 Jack's nerves became unsteadier, his face assumed a more 

 bloated appearance as the shooting season advanced, and he 

 seemed to have unlimited cash at his disposal. 



Little by little his master became suspicious. Being a man 

 of scrupulous regularity, he always kept everything under 

 lock and key, so Jack's chance of watering the spirits in the 

 cabin of the aforesaid yacht was remote ; but he was such a 

 genial and cheery companion that he invariably drew sub- 

 stantial donations from all who were brought into his society, 

 and his master's earliest suspicions were lulled by the opinion 

 that it was from this quarter that Jack obtained his supply 

 of ready money. 



Twice a week at least did Jack's master visit some portion 

 of his shoot on which he had a good show of birds in the 

 early part of the season, but very shortly after the opening 

 week the birds seemed to have miraculously disappeared. 

 Several friends, who had begun to get heartily sick of 

 walking the stubbles in the vain hope that the birds had 

 come back again, vowed they would never accept any more 

 invitations, as it was a waste of time, and the ex-poacher- 

 gamekeeper was one day at lunch subjected to a most 

 severe cross-examination by a juvenile aspirant for the Bar. 

 But Jack was such an accomplished prevaricator of the 

 truth that he came out of this ordeal smiling, and quite non- 

 plussed the whole of the party present. He told off on his 

 fingers the wet weather, the drought, the gapes, how some 

 birds had been lost here, others killed there, and in the end 

 quite satisfied his master that he was indeed fortunate to have 

 bagged the miserable five brace and a half that lay before him. 



