MY BROTHER KEEPERS 207 



ship offended by a gun who shot birds before they 

 rose at all. The high-bird keeper would be dis- 

 gusted at the sight of a flank-gun mowing down 

 birds representing supremely sporting shots for the 

 forward guns. The high-bird keeper belongs, I 

 consider, to the highest standard of sportsmanship. 

 If he found himself filling a post where mops would 

 be more sporting weapons than guns, he would 

 have my sympathy were he sacked on the spot for 

 deprecating the proceedings as massacre. The old 

 keeper who years ago had charge of a shoot I once 

 managed was a grand sportsman to the fullest 

 extent of his creed. He is now dead, perhaps 

 fortunately ; for if he could have seen with mortal 

 eye my plan of beating the coverts, and the posi- 

 tions of the guns, I am sure he would be seized with 

 a fatal fit. I shall never forget his excitement when 

 he watched me kill the first driven partridge he 

 had ever seen definitely stopped. It was a kill in 

 striking contrast to that of other birds alleged to 

 have collapsed after topping some brow on the 

 horizon. I have always felt thankful, for the old 

 chap's sake, that I failed to score a brace. 



Keenness is one of the most striking qualities of 

 keepers as a class. You certainly meet with keen- 

 ness personified when you see the porters who greet 

 the arrival of main-line trains at the London stations. 

 Theirs is not the same species of keenness as 

 keepers'. Porters' keenness is begotten of lust for 



