278 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



saying that they had started on a journey in charge 

 of his wife. I did not know his wife even by 

 sight ; and I felt like telling him that I had 

 heard of wives wearing the trousers, but never 

 cartridge-bags. Cartridge-bags always should be 

 attached to a gun-case or magazine, and not treated 

 as miscellaneous baggage. There are plenty of men 

 who will spend gold on the purchase of their 

 cartridge -bags, yet, apparently, begrudge the few 

 pence to have their names (not merely their initials) 

 put on them plainly. Any cartridge-bag with a 

 narrow strap or webbing ought to be carried by 

 the owner. 



To carry about two or three hundred cartridges 

 is not the lightest of occupations. Still, the weight 

 of cartridges never gave me much trouble, especially 

 when there was a fair prospect of their being shot 

 off, preferably on my own beat. Yet the sling of 

 a cartridge-bag, where it pressed, always produced 

 a pain like a cross between sciatica and toothache, 

 even after carrying for an hour or two a bag with 

 only fifty cartridges in it. The pain would remain 

 for hours after the cause had been removed. I 

 found it a good plan to stuff my handkerchief 

 over the spot, beneath my coat, 



A keeper must command respect, but avoid 

 familiarity. It is always a good sign when one 

 hears a keeper spoken of as * Mr. So-and-so ' by 

 labourers, though his employer may be merely 

 1 Old So-and-so.' A link of friendliness between 



