MY FIRST SHOOT 31 



I ground impotent teeth at that ghastly sight ! 

 They did not send the dog for a badly-wounded 

 hare from motive of mercy, but simply in the 

 hope that they might yet secure it for their pot, 

 after failing at an easy chance to bag it themselves. 

 How I should have revelled in sending a charge 

 of shot at the middle of each of those retreating 

 apologies for sportsmen ! Consoling myself with 

 the old adage that what the eye does not see the 

 heart does not grieve for, I walked away from 

 sight of this blood-curdling business. 



The rest of the day I spent in perfecting my 

 plans for the morrow, and while I was so doing met 

 my friend the shepherd, a burly middle-aged man 

 who loved a pint of beer and a fight about equally 

 well, and next to these a rabbit 'pudd'n.' He had 

 great news for me. Here it is in his own words : 



" Me an' t' ould dawg was a-blunderin' along, 

 as t' sayin' is, acrorst they barley stubbs yarnder, 

 and thinkin' about noth'n' pertickler-like, when up 

 gits the doocedest girt mess o' birds as ever I set 

 eyes on in all my barn days. I thought they was 

 starluns when they riz up. Howsomedever, summat 

 made me screw m' eyes on 'em a liddle tighter, an' 

 I sez to meself an' ter t' ould dog, "Why, I'll be 

 jiggered if they ain't pairtridges." I had been 

 lucky with some * setty ' eggs cut out in the mowing 

 of grass for hay, and had turned down the proceeds 

 along the edge of a big piece of barley. I handed 



