326 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



in the plantations, and ordered the " rummish customer,'" as he 

 was called, to be put out. Seeing that my men evidently thought 

 that this would be a matter of some difficulty, and having a 

 great stout under-keeper, whom I thought too big to be a high- 

 plucked man (for I have often noticed that Providence is in- 

 clined to make things even, by giving the most courage to the 

 smallest size, of course with some exceptions), I resolved to 

 try this servant at the vagrant, as men run terriers at a badger. 

 Not choosing, however, to rely on the report of my keeper, I told 

 my tall under-man to be near, and I myself went into the pit 

 to see the " rum customer." The willows and bushes were very 

 thick, so I could not make out more than that there was a man 

 lying down. " Hey, my man," I said, " you must not stay here ; 

 come, get up and be off" " Humph," replied a gruffish voice, 

 " thafs easier said than done." Angry at what I took for an 

 insolent reply, and forgetting that I intended to try my under- 

 keeper, I at once broke through the bushes, and made up to the 

 man. He was still among the grass, and in length of limb was 

 a biggish-Zooil-Mi^' fellow, and acting under the first impression of 

 insolence, I was about to lay my hand on his collar, with the 

 words, " Get up, and go you must," when I was arrested, by a 

 voice, certainly a little hoarse, but which in tones of obedience 

 said, " Very well, sir." I stood stock-still, there was a melan- 

 choly expression in his voice, he looked very much jaded and 

 worn, and as in obedience to my order he prepai-ed to rise, I saw 

 him adjusting an old shoe and tattered bandage on a terribly 

 lame foot. His whole bearing was so different from what I had 

 been led to expect, that the tone of severity in which I had 

 spoken to him in the first instance seemed to recoil upon me as 

 a heartless rudeness, so I put my hand gently on his shoulder, 

 and said, " No, my friend, sit down, you don't seem well." The 

 change in my voice and manner, I suppose, was too much for him, 

 for he refrained from attempting to rise, and burst into tears 

 like a child. It was a good deal too much for me, and made me 

 a child too ; so to divert the feeling, I called out loudly for my 

 underman Mr. Cox, but who did not or would not hear me, 



