A POCKET-GUN. 199 



It was traced for a short distance and then lost. Not till 

 the excitement had subsided did the under keeper find 

 that he had been hit ; one pellet had scored his cheek 

 under the eye, and left a groove still visible. 



Some time afterwards a gun was picked up in the 

 ferns, all rusty from exposure, which had doubtless been 

 dropped in the flight. The barrel was very short not 

 more than eighteen inches in length having been filed off 

 for convenience of taking to pieces, so as to be carried in 

 a pocket made on purpose in the lining of the coat. Now 

 with a barrel so short as that, sport, in the proper sense of 

 the term, would be impossible ; the shot would scatter so 

 quickly after leaving the muzzle that the sportsman would 

 never be able to approach near enough. The use of this 

 gun was clearly to shoot pheasants at roost. 



The particular keeper in whose shed the man-trap still 

 lies among the lumber thinks that the class of poachers 

 who come in gangs are as desperate now as ever, and as 

 ready with their weapons. Breech-loading guns have 

 rendered such affrays extremely dangerous on account of 

 the rapidity of fire. Increased severity of punishment 

 may deter a man from entering a wood ; but once he is 

 there and compromised, the dread of a heavy sentence is 

 likely to make him fight savagely. 



The keeper himself is not altogether averse to a little 

 fisticuffing, in a straightforward kind of way, putting 

 powder and shot on one side. He rather relishes what he 



