30 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



all sorts of fine bags ; for, not unnaturally, I judged 

 the result of their blazing by a flattering standard. 

 It never dawned on me but that each supposed 

 covey rose at the toes of the shooters, that each 

 of them scored a double, and that each volley 

 meant several brace in the bag. My curiosity grew 

 apace, and it was not long before I found myself 

 in a gap in a boundary fence, from which I was 

 able, much to my relief, to burst my bubble notions 

 of the next-door bag. Each bird that rose was 

 saluted by a double shot, apparently from any of 

 the party who saw it, and quite irrespective of 

 range ; and I doubt not that it would have met 

 with the same indignity if seen on the ground. 

 Fortunately, these people were not only bad sports- 

 men, but bad shots a detestable combination. 

 There was another feature in their plan of cam- 

 paign which quickly attracted my attention their 

 dogs, one of which struck me as well, unusual, 

 to say the least of it. But I was unable to solve 

 the mystery of this dog till the party worked round 

 the outside turn nearest the boundary. A hare got 

 up as the line was wheeling in a very go-as-you- 

 please formation, but, as the gunners were caught 

 napping, did not receive their united attention till 

 it was a good seventy or eighty yards distant, end 

 on. The hare went on. Whereupon, to my intense 

 surprise, the unusual-looking dog was loosed 

 a pot-house lurcher. How my blood boiled ! how 



