310 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



lessly still, engendering in our minds the idea of convulsions and 

 death. It is impossible to describe the effect that this sudden 

 elucidation of the mystery had on us ; all I know is that I 

 laughed till my sides ached again, when on rewarding the boy 

 with half-a-crown, he informed that excellent servant Beard, the 

 head gamekeeper, that he would be similarly shot every day for 

 half the sum. 



