84 A Sportsman at Large 



perched himself, with a decisive whisk of his skew-tail feathers, 

 upon a distant stone wall, where he continued to regard our 

 operations superciliously. I knew it was no good attempting 

 to stalk the joker with a gun, but I made an imaginary black 

 mark against him in my memory, and determined to have his 

 blood sooner or later. 



Having negotiated a ford in the river, I began the ascent 

 of Believer. The sides of the Tor were studded with patches 

 of gorse, whose golden flowers added a gorgeous touch of 

 vivid colour to the purple of the heather and the infinite 

 shadings of the bracken. 



There were a few rabbits in this locality, but I was not over 

 keen on burdening myself with one or more of the odoriferous 

 conies. These creatures had become a drug in my sporting 

 market. Familiarity had, as usual, bred contempt. However, 

 I allowed Cockie Junior to do a bit of hustling. Suddenly, 

 with a rustle of wing there arose from the rough, game of a very 

 different quality. Nothing less than another woodcock, 

 which gave me an easy chance. I immediately availed myself 

 of the offer, but the succulent bird fell in the very middle of 

 what seemed to be an impenetrable gorse patch, the growth of 

 which was old and tall. The only chance of salving my prize 

 was to crawl on hands and knees under the stems, and so 

 suffering the torments of the damned the while. 



I thought of recruiting the terrier's skill as a retriever, 

 but I knew he was more likely to chew up the long bill and to 

 leave its remains where it fell, than to bring it to hand ; so I 

 chose the straight, narrow and exceedingly painful path. 

 After many inward groans and anathemas I reached my 

 objective, and made my way back a proud but dreadfully 

 sore lad ! 



When at last I gained the stone cairn which crowns Bellevor 

 I found that the mist was still clinging to the Tor, though it 

 was now being gradually dispersed by a fitful breeze. On 

 the Western side there was a bare expanse of stoney ground, 

 where I expected to come across the golden plover. I figured 

 that the drifting mist would give me a fair chance of coming 

 to terms with the desirable birds ; but much to my disappoint- 

 ment the bunch was " not at home " ; so I went back to the 



