COVERT-SHOOTING 289 



cover his capabilities beforehand. No 

 loader at all is infinitely preferable to one 

 who has no knowledge of the work, as 

 any one would agree after a single trial 

 of the bungler and his ways. 



At a certain covert-shoot a few winters 

 ago, I went through an unhappy ex- 

 perience of this nature. An unexpected 

 day's shooting, a host with a reputation 

 as a man of method in all things, and a 

 pressing request to use two guns. Next 

 morning, on gaining our ground, came 

 the casual remark as we took our places, 

 "Oh, I say, you'll put your loader into 

 the right way of things, won't you ? He's 

 the kennel boy and I don't think he's ever 

 loaded before." A brief interval of fruit- 

 less instruction ; five sad minutes spent 

 in wondering whether the said boy would 

 pepper the portly gentleman on our right, 

 or blow a large hole through the back 

 of his temporary employer ; then the 

 awe-inspiring moment when, stooping to 

 to pick up a cartridge that had slipped 

 through his unaccustomed fingers, the 



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