158 A Sportsman at Large 



" You mean ? " 



" Yes ! That the attendant had been bribed by the bookies 

 to hand you dud cartridges probably loaded with steel 

 filings; since clouds of feathers were chipped out of your 

 pigeon without the stuff penetrating." 



This gave me furiously to think. 



I offered Gambier my grateful thanks, and henceforth was 

 on the qui vive ! 



" All's well that ends well/' is a comforting proverb ; .but 

 my friend's revelation caused me much uneasiness. The 

 fact is, that the Gun Club and some others made a fatal 

 mistake in admitting professional bookmakers to their 

 enclosures. Some of these pencillers w-ere as honest as the 

 day, and quite above suspicion ; but there were others ! 

 Verb. sap. ! 



Far better had the committees of these clubs followed the 

 example of aristocratic and exclusive Hurlingham, and shut 

 the door against professional bookies. There were plenty of 

 members of these other clubs who were ever ready to take 

 odds, instead of laying them, or to " hedge and ditch ! " 



It was such shady practices as revealed by Gambier that 

 afforded a handle by which the spoil-sports might twist their 

 arguments against the pastime of pigeon shooting ! 



When the scores were totted up at the end of the Inter- 

 national week, to my surprise and delight I found myself 

 the winner of the Cup presented by the Gun Club for the 

 best average of the whole series ; whilst at Hurlingham I was 

 proxime accessit to my old friend Day, who shot under the 

 nom de tir of " Mr. Grace." 



The following were my averages : 



Gun Club 7.75 



Hurlingham 7.25 



At the two Clubs combined. . . 7.50 



A great, little friend of mine, Alan Robinson, whom I had 

 met when on his honeymoon at " Monte," had taken up 

 pigeon shooting because, like myself, he had something of 

 a private reputation as a game shot. He soon made good, 

 and began raking in the plums. His success was all the more 



