274 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



at least one hand of a tip before the reception of 

 another. Firstly, it is embarrassing for men of 

 unequal means to see each other's coins ; secondly, 

 the keeper naturally likes to keep each sportsman's 

 tip separate ; and, thirdly, a keeper's hands may not 

 be big enough to hold more than a certain amount 

 of coins, especially large silver coins, and he may 

 drop some, which is a breach of etiquette. I have 

 heard it said of a one-armed keeper that at no time 

 did he feel the want of two hands so acutely as 

 when two shooters wished to tip him at the same 

 time. 



Once I thought I had lost a whole crop of tips 

 after a very good day. Everything I had done was 

 quite the reverse of deserving such a thing. The 

 guns walked off without so much as one of them 

 saying ' Good-night,' or wanting to know what the 

 bag was, or even where was a cartridge-bag. I 

 thought they must have hatched a strike against 

 tipping. I felt a bit hurt, till, after I had had some 

 tea, my wife produced a double handful of coins, 

 and explained how, while she was feeding her 

 chickens, the guns had come past, and had caused 

 her to stand at the receipt of custom. After many 

 years of experience, I became so expert at handling 

 tips that I could tell their value by sense of touch ; 

 when I failed was when I mistook half a sovereign 

 for sixpence, or a pound for a shilling. Once or 

 twice it was the other way on. 



