196 BROADLAND SPORT 



dogs were cheered on to the death. But it was not to be an 

 uneventful one. 



Tom, dripping with water, mud and weeds, whilst search- 

 ing in the grass, aided only by the light of the stars, inad- 

 vertently placed nis naked toes into an unsprung trap, 

 which instantly closed on them, and immediately "the air 

 went blue for miles." Six of the dogs, worked up to a 

 pitch of no little excitement, had followed their master, some 

 into the water, some on to the land, and two of them were 

 likewise caught in the halo of traps with which the island 

 was bedecked, and these unhappy canines added their doleful 

 music to the general uproar. 



John, as is usual with almost all Broadland watermen, 

 instead of going to his master's assistance made tracks to 

 secure the quarry, and I saw his outline fumbling about in 

 the grass after the rat, utterly regardless of the misery around 

 him. In the dark he put his hand on to the vicious rodent 

 before he saw it. Naturally it bit him, and he in his rage 

 made a blind stroke at it with a stretcher, in order to retaliate 

 and to do it to death, which he believed to be the object in 

 view. But, unluckily for him, a retriever was standing by 

 looking on, and John hit the retriever instead of the rat. 

 Poor John ! he got some more teeth marks in a part of his 

 body which politeness forbids me to name. 



All this time my skipper was swearing at everybody and 

 everything, and to make matters worse, after he had extracted 

 himself from the trap, he attempted to release one of his 

 favourite dogs, bidding the boy to do a similar act of kindness 

 to another. 



Before I could interfere both the master and the boy were 

 badly bitten by the dogs, who were goaded almost to madness 

 by the pain they suffered, and a fresh outburst of agony rent 

 the air. 



Had a native heard it in the distance, and I will vouchsafe 

 to say that anyone could have done so two miles away at 

 least, he would have thought that some of the inmates of 

 Bedlam were loose, or that murder was being committed. 



