32 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



a rabbit which I happened to have in my pocket to 

 the shepherd, and each of us went his way rejoicing. 

 Probably my experience of the previous night 

 accounted for my getting some sleep during the 

 night immediately preceding the second day of 

 September. The hour for meeting the guns was 

 10.30, but long before then I was ready and waiting, 

 my boots brushed till their polish began to depre- 

 ciate, and my box-cloth gaiters spotless. I had 

 with me, to help, a sport-loving farm-hand, who had 

 been my colleague through the winter while ferret- 

 ing rabbits. He was as good a hand at marking 

 the fall of a bird as it has been my lot to meet. 

 Each of us had a partridge-carrier, which we hoped 

 to fill, and I had the only dog I possessed, a young 

 rough-curly retriever, trained to the stage when, 

 though useful, she was still much too inclined to 

 amuse herself with hares and rabbits, and in other 

 uncertain ways. I kept her in tow by a rope round 

 my waist, so that if she ' went ' she had to take me 

 with her. Well, to cut a long story short, the guns 

 arrived on the late side of 10.30, as is often the 

 way of guns who drive while the keeper walks. 

 Not having been accustomed to the regulation 

 method of salute, I lifted my cap nearly off my 

 head, which, since there was no intimation to the 

 contrary, I suppose was appreciated. And there 

 was an ominous pause preceding the sir ' when I 

 returned the individual 'Good-mornings.' However, 



