88 A Sportsman at Large 



I felt like bursting into childish tears of rage and despair. 

 Remember, I was then but eighteen years of age ! 



But I pulled myself together and started shouting, " Coo- 

 ee ! " (our family had long since adopted the Australian call 

 as a means of distant communication) for all I v/as worth ; 

 whilst Cockie Junior joined in with an obligato of short, 

 sharp barks. Bless him, he seemed to know now what was 

 required of him. But nothing happened for some time. Again 

 black despair was clutching at my heart and nerves, when all 

 of a sudden there was the flash of a gun, and a loud report 

 within a dozen yards of us. ... I fairly screamed for help ! 

 The next instant Harry Edwards rushed forward and caught 

 me in his arms, as I fell, overcome by weakness and reaction. 



He sat me down, and pulling out his whisky flask, forced it 

 between my chattering teeth. The fiery liquid to which I 

 was altogether unaccustomed soon took effect, so that I soon 

 felt quite chirpy again. 



" I lost my way, Harry ! " I said. " How far are we from 

 Cator ? " 



" Oh, a few hundred yards. Do you feel equal to making 

 a start ! Here, give me your gun and game bag. By Jove, 

 you seem to have filled it all right ! And that old hare, too ! 

 Don't tell me you have been humping that along all the time ? " 



Oh, yes. I had stuck to my victims all right. Had I 

 perished they would have remained as a proof of my powers ; 

 that is to say, unless the faithful Cockie Junior, driven to 

 desperation by the pangs of starvation, but loath to leave my 

 corpse, had devoured them, bones, feathers, fur and all, using 

 my poor remains as a dinner-table ! It seems that Harry, 

 as was often his wont had started out alone that morning in 

 search of a far distant and somewhat mysterious bog, known 

 as Fox Tor Mire, where snipe and duck were said to abound 

 in surprising quantities. After a tramp of some nine miles 

 over very rough going, he had, in fact, found El Dorado ; 

 but the said mire was so deep and dangerous, and so dense 

 with tall and rank growth, as to be almost impenetrable. 

 He had tried to force a passage from several points, but could 

 never proceed more than a dozen yards or so. However, he 

 bagged one mallard, and " downed " another, which not 



