THE REAL POACHER. 145 



but a hard, prosaic business, a matter of £ s. d., requiring 

 a long-headed, shrewd fellow, with a power of silence, 

 capable of a delicacy of touch which almost raises poaching 

 into a fine art. The real man is often a sober and to all 

 appearance industrious individual, working steadily during 

 the day at some handicraft in the village, as blacksmithing, 

 hedge-carpentering — i.e. making posts and rails, etc. — ■ 

 cobbling, tinkering, or perhaps ' in the mill ; a somewhat 

 reserved, solitary workman of superior intelligence and 

 frequently advanced views as to the * rights of labour.' 

 He has no appetite for thrilling adventure ; his idea is 

 simply money, and he looks upon his night-work precisely 

 as he does upon his day-labour. 



His great object is to avoid suspicion, knowing that 

 success will be proportionate to his skill in cloaking his 

 operations ; for in a small community, when a man is 

 * suspect,' it is comparatively easy to watch him, and a 

 poacher knows that if he is watched he must sooner or 

 later be caught. Secrecy is not so very difficult ; for it is 

 only with certain classes that he need practise concealment : 

 his own class will hold their peace. If a man is seen at 

 his work in the day, if he is moderate in his public-house 

 attendance, shows himself at church, and makes friends 

 with the resident policemen (not as a confederate, but to 

 know his beat and movements), he may go on for years 

 without detection. 



Perhaps the most promising position for a man who 



