io TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



memory of living men the shoot had yielded three 

 to four hundred brace a season. Six and a half 

 brace set no impossible standard ; at any rate, I 

 could not bring about a result much worse. 



Since I was more or less familiar with the smaller 

 portion of my ground, my first act of game-keeping 

 was to make, on the morning following my removal, 

 a long tour of inspection over the main portion, 

 which was one big farm. I encountered a farmer, 

 of whom I took special stock, knowing full well 

 that much depended on how we got on together. 

 I saw at once that he was a consequential sort of 

 man, and evidently under the impression that he 

 understood most other things as well as he did 

 farming. He had a large family, which when I 

 ceased my connection with his farm apparently had 

 come to a conclusion at five brace. Small wonder 

 that his manner was somewhat autocratic when 

 dealing with outsiders ! He struck me as being 

 just the sort of man who, with a little more practical 

 knowledge of the requirements of game and a little 

 more tact, would have been an ideal farmer in a 

 keeper's eyes. He told his men in the most 

 truculent tone, which made me want to blush, that 

 he had let his shooting, and ' if e'er a one on ye 

 gets slippin' down wires or anyways playin' the fool, 

 off you goes to gaol, mind, sharp !' 



He possessed the most scrupulous reverence for 

 hospitality in a liquid form, and at our first interview 



