230 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



pose just as well. Do not shout uncomplimentary 

 remarks to beaters and under-keepers, or issue 

 orders in pothouse phraseology. The beaters will 

 only laugh among themselves, and say, * Hark at 

 old So-and-so rappin' it out agen !' Moreover, 

 such an exhibition is not a recommendation to 

 sportsmen compelled to hear it. It is useful 

 always to remember that * Come along, men,' 

 goes a lot further than ' Go on.' You can lead 

 beaters where you cannot drive them. 



Soldiers home on furlough I was always glad 

 to get as beaters. Though they may lack technical 

 knowledge, they do as they are told, and they keep 

 in line two things of the greatest importance to 

 good beating. To teach beaters to preserve a 

 good line I have found more difficult than any- 

 thing else. Though they may absorb a fair notion 

 of a straight line, they seem to be quite incapable 

 of realizing that a hooked line, a semicircle, or any 

 line which involves a curve, at the same time may 

 be even, and not zigzag. This failure is most 

 evident when you signal to the right or left wing 

 of a line of partridge-drivers to get forward. The 

 third and fourth men probably will bore ahead 

 out of all proportion to the second and first, and, 

 of course, nullify the very object of the move. 



Lazy beaters must not be allowed to have their 

 own way. If you watch a party of beaters told off 

 to line out ready to begin a covert beat, you will 

 notice how some of them scheme to get the 



