206 BROADLAND SPORT 



pass, almost touching the ground, in a manner which in 

 the uncertain light might lead a superstitious person to 

 think of the visitation of some evil spirit or goblin, 

 said to inhabit these parts by those living in the more re- 

 mote regions, to whom the teaching of the School Board has 

 been but hearsay. It proved to be a bunch of golden plover, 

 but we were so astonished at the suddenness of their coming 

 and going that they escaped without a shot being fired at 

 them. 



" Although we keep a constant lookout from this moment 

 until we once more touch the uplands, never a shot do we get. 

 " The author was now strongly in favour of staying for the 

 flight, but his friend had had enough of it, and enthusiastic- 

 ally argues that the comfort of a roomy saddle-bagged chair 

 drawn close to a warm fireside, in company with a bottle of 

 generous port and Kentish cobs as additional allurement, 

 require some beating. The attractions of each proposition are 

 duly considered, and finally it is decided to toss up and abide 

 by the result. His friend wins, and in triumph leads the 

 way by a short cut through the fields towards the hospitable 

 roof that gave us shelter, and, be it said to his credit, he 

 had in no way under-estimated the tempting lures held out 

 on the bleak borders of marshland to attract us on like a 

 Will -o'-the- Wisp over the fatal bogs, but with this difference : 

 the latter practically exist only in the imagination, whereas 

 the former were taken by us in the enjoyment of sweet 

 reality." 



FROZEN OUT. 



