10 THE INFLUENCE OF 



loaders of the quickest action, and the only draw- 

 back to the gunner's satisfaction is that he is 

 obliged to waste a certain time between his shots in 

 cocking the gun which he has taken from his loader. 

 This cannot but be enervating in its influence. 

 Everything, except the merest action of pointing 

 the piece and pulling the trigger, is done for 

 you. You are conveyed probably to the very 

 place where you are to stand ; the game is 

 driven right up to you ; what you shoot is 

 picked up for you ; your gun itself is loaded 

 by other hands ; you have no difficulty in 

 finding your prey ; you have no satisfaction in 

 outwitting the wiliness of bird or beast ; you 

 have nothing whatever except the pleasure — 

 minimised by constant repetition — of bringing 

 down a " rocketter," or stopping a rabbit going 

 full speed across a ride. 



The moral of this is that it is not necessary to 

 do anything for yourself, that some one will do 

 everything for you, probably better than you would, 

 and that all you have to do is to leave everything 

 to some person whom you trust. Or, again, it is, 

 get the greatest amount of effect with the least 

 possible personal exertion. Stand still, and op- 

 portunities will come to you like pheasants — 

 all you have to do is to knock them over. 



But it is not so with wild-shootinoj. ^ot so 



