A Sportsman at Large 27 



Now I had always regarded the learned Sergeant as one 

 whose word could be implicitly relied upon ; but now I had 

 my doubts ; moreover, my newly-acquired weapon had given 

 my shoulder a punch which revived painful memories of the 

 unspeakable polygroove ; whilst the second finger of my 

 right hand showed a conspicuous and highly-coloured bump. 



The light, single-barrelled weapon, carrying a fully-loaded 

 cartridge, was bound to cause a very severe recoil, one which 

 was far too great a tax on the endurance of a little boy of 

 twelve. 



But I meant to have another go. The opportunity soon 

 arose, but I missed my bird like a man, and again my shoulder 

 and finger suffered severely. 



Then I began to funk, which destroyed any chance I may 

 have possessed of legitimately accounting for " a kill " on my 

 own ; moreover, " gun-headache " now afflicted me sorely ; 

 so I had to " cry a go." 



I lay down under a haystack at the luncheon interval, and 

 was seized with such nausea that neither solid nor liquid 

 refreshment appealed to me in the least. 



The grown-ups were very solicitous and a council of war 

 was held. 



Irwin handled my gun and pronounced it too long in the 

 stock ; whereby the butt could not be properly placed when I 

 " threw up." 



A brain-wave came to Gaffer Bill. u The boy must have the 

 stock shortened and the charge reduced." This was agreed. 



No more shooting for me that day ; but a few days later 

 I was again on the war-path. The stock of my gun, now 

 shortened, fitted my shoulder to a nicety, whilst my cartridges 

 carried a greatly reduced charge. I tried it on bye-days, 

 selecting as my intended victims unfortunate blackbirds and 

 thrushes which the keepers beat out of the hedgerows for a 

 trial of my marksmanship. Of these I gave a fair account ; 

 so that when once more I joined the shooting-party my con- 

 fidence was restored, and I was determined to bring a partridge 

 to book, under circumstances such as would make it absolutely 

 certain that it was I, and I alone, who had accomplished the 

 deed. And this is how I contrived it. 



