UNDER THE LEE OF NORFOLK SANDHILLS 315 



We walked in line and fired to our hearts' content. 

 Every few yards we kicked up a rabbit, sometimes several, 

 but to stop them as they darted through the rank ground 

 growth, over the limited open spaces, or round a tussock of 

 rushes, required some skill. Every fifty yards or so we came 

 upon a hillock or mound, where the rabbits found they could 

 burrow, and they had not omitted to take full advantage of 

 these outlying retreats. We had no ferrets with us, and when 

 they outwitted us by gaining a temporary shelter in 

 these refuge places we did not stop or attempt to unearth 

 them. We had no occasion to do so, for there always seemed 

 plenty more ahead. Having crossed, re-crossed, and well 

 walked many acres of this waste land with shots at partridges, 

 rabbits and plover, we took a beat along the sandhills, where 

 we found the best of the sport we had as yet experienced. 

 Alternately we walked, one on the outskirts of the hills, the 

 other along the tops, with beaters on either side of us. 



It was exhilarating, sporting and exciting exhilarating 

 by reason of the strong air and pure ozone which we inhaled 

 direct from the sea ; sporting by reason of the shots we 

 obtained ; exciting by the difficulties in progression, and 

 because we had no idea at what quarry our guns might 

 next be directed. In many places the surface of the damp 

 sand had been frozen quite hard, and when one endeavoured 

 to run down what looked like a perpendicular slope, the 

 smooth sand of which we would naturally expect to find soft 

 and yielding, it was a disagreeable surprise to realise it hard 

 as rock, and in consequence to be precipitated from the top 

 to the bottom at a higher rate of velocity than was required 

 or desired. After a couple of tumbles of this description we 

 became more cautious, and when we were again deceived by 

 the outward appearances of a slope, the fall was broken by 

 glissading gracefully down upon the seat of our nether 

 garments. 



Some years ago, before starting on a hunting expedition 

 to Norway, we had had a sling fitted to our gun, with other 

 alterations to suit probable requirements, and as we were 



