INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS XXXIX 



On one of the wings to the left he had, by borrowing 

 Tom Draw's gun from his grandson (Tom Demerest) and 

 wrapping the gun in paper and pressing it down into the 

 wet cement, made an imprint that should be there for 

 ever, with the words, "Frank Forester's Gun." 



I looked first at Mr. Pond, then at Mr. Crissey ; the 

 former, who for years had revered Herbert as a sportsman 

 and a writer, who had longed for year after year to come 

 to Warwick and happy whenever he had augmented his 

 libraiy with some Forester items; the latter an equal 

 lover of Herbert but with knowledge of him obtained only 

 through a few of his books; now brought together by the 

 same note of love and respect to our first American sport- 

 ing writer. 



Happy was I, in the stress and strain of wartime when 

 a joyful sporting trip seemed almost a misuse of one's 

 time, that I had arranged that Mr. Pond should have at- 

 tained his life-long wish. Happy, indeed, that Mr. Cris- 

 sey should have been able to show us what he had accom- 

 plished and also to feel that we — worshippers at the same 

 shrine — could appreciate what he, alone and unaided, had 

 done to show his feeling towards the author who had made 

 his home-town famous. 



That was really the climax of the day. Kindled then 

 and there was a glow of regard for one another which 

 could never be extinguished, and while other scenes fol- 

 lowed nothing could equal those ten or fifteen minutes in 

 which the son of Warwick revealed to us, what for 

 years he had longed to do, had season after season planned, 

 and finally built. 



Going back to the motor a bit further on we found a 

 rough lean-to which our guide had erected so that any of 

 the villagers who should walk out could use it as a shelter 

 from the stoi-m. In it was a box for magazines to instruct 

 the visitor, and strongly framed and nailed on the wall 

 and stoutly screened the Darley picture of Tom Draw and 

 another one of Frank Forester in hunting costume, both 

 presented by Mr. Pond. Above the picture of Forester 

 was printed: "Sportsman and author of The Warivick 

 Woodlands. The chapter called 'A snipe hunt on the hills' 

 tells of the day's shooting around this pond (and the 



