16 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



my tree, and waiting till the sportsmen were hidden by a hedge, 

 I pounced on the farmer's two men, very angry with them for 

 the trespass, and very deaf to all explanation ; raising my voice, 

 to let my brother know his pursuers wei-e stopped, and to give 

 him and Claxton an opportunity of plausible escape. Claxton 

 took the hint, lost no time, and making for the game preserve, 

 climbed and tumbled over such cover-palings into the Moathouse 

 Wood, as, had he not supposed that he was pursued, he never 

 would have attempted. Augustus ran, and then sti'ode off in 

 another direction, and, knowing something of the country, got 

 into a field that did not belong to us, but unfortunately not out 

 of sight. Having detained the men in explanation as long as 

 possible, I at last permitted myself to comprehend the affair, 

 and sent one home to his master to say I would look to it, and 

 in\'ited the other to accompany me in pursuit of the man we still 

 saw, but who had taken from me any power to capture him, or 

 anything belonging to him, he not being then on the Cranford 

 lands. However, I went up, and very high words passed between 

 us, ending with an exchange of cards, and a mutual determina- 

 tion to meet at daylight the next morning, in a saw-pit, with 

 double-barrelled pistols, crammed with slugs! We moodily 

 separated, going different ways home to breakfast at Cranford ; 

 and the labourer strode off" home to his master, with an evident 

 idea of justices of peace, and constables, and the prevention of 

 our next morning's murder. We had not long finished a very 

 merry breakfast, when the farmer rode into the courtyard to 

 know all about it, and to tell my mother that my safety had 

 better be looked to. Telling him, of course, as little as I pleased, 

 and saying I felt under some constraint in regard to the circum- 

 stances, with rather a serious quarrel on my hands, I pledged 

 him to secrecy for the present, and assuring him he should hear 

 further, bade him good morning. His "hearing further," of 

 course, was, that I had been deceived in supposing that the 

 sportsman would keep the appointment in regard to the duel, 

 and that I set him down, therefoi-e, as some nameless impostor, 

 who, if the farmer could find him out, ought to be proceeded 



