118 A Sportsman at Large 



of setters Don and Dinah were put down. It was at once 

 evident to me that these knew their work, and had been 

 most thoroughly broken, for they worked to Grant's hand 

 and whistle to perfection, and quartered their ground in mas- 

 terly fashion. 



Whilst shinning up the hillside, I had become aware that the 

 hefty Collinson seemed to be determined that I should note the 

 size of his shot as inscribed on the end wads of his cartridges 

 as they rested in the breach of his barrels. In other words, 

 he persistently carried his gun at full-cock (hammerless weapons 

 had not been invented in those days), and carefully aligned 

 for my cranium ; so, on my invariable " safety-first " principle, 

 I sheered off and gave him a wide berth, despite his exhorta- 

 tions to " close up ! " 



It was not long before both setters began railing to the 

 wind, and soon Dinah was down ; Don backing her in exem- 

 plary fashion. 



My " pard " motioned me to go forward, which, I trow, 

 was very unselfish of him. I was wide on the right, and as I 

 was closing in on the dogs, I ran right into another brood of 

 seven grouse. 



In my excitement I missed an easy shot with my first barrel, 

 but popping in my second at a late riser, I had the satisfaction 

 of seeing it crumple up. My first red-grouse ! 



Notwithstanding this rise and my two shots, Don and 

 Dinah had not moved a muscle, so, having reloaded, I drew 

 in on the right, with Hall on the left. The birds lay very 

 close, and the bitch had to be stroked and encouraged to creep 

 forward. At last a big bunch of some fourteen birds were 

 sprung. 



This time I made no mistake, f or I " downed " a pretty right 

 and left, whilst my companion did ditto. That day our bag 

 amounted to forty-two brace ; which means a lot of shooting 

 for only two guns when dogs are the order of the day. I 

 never could have wished for a prettier or more enjoyable bit 

 of shooting. Despite my pard's avoirdupois he was the deuce 

 and all of a walker and a deadly shot. 



For many days we had satisfactory bags. The third setter 

 Dash and the pointer Sancho proved as good and reliable 



