My First Gux. 15 



taxed before the job was completed. The gun 

 being conveyed in due course to the workshop, 

 the iirst thing that was done was to cut about 

 a foot off the barrel ; and after months of 

 waiting, a very satisfactory-looking weapon was 

 turned out. 



And though since that time I have owned 

 guns by Boss Purdey, Dougall, Westley, 

 Richards, Powell, Lancaster, Lang, Pope, Hol- 

 land, and many other first-rate English makers, 

 including a genuine old Joe Manton, I do not 

 think that any of these eclipsed, in my estima- 

 tion at that time, the delight I experienced in 

 the possession of the converted old kicker. 

 Strange to say, notwithstanding the mutilation, 

 the gun was much improved in its shooting, 

 and I soon succeeded in bringing down birds 

 on the wing, but I shortly afterwards began 

 to tire of such small deer, and longed for some 

 more noble quarry. On talking the matter over 

 with young Ben, he suggested moorhens, and 

 said he could bring his father's old dog "Jack," 

 a large, wiry, old-fashioned grizzly black-and- 

 tan terrier, and great sport we often had with 

 him. Jack was a capital dog for the sport, and 

 managed to catch quite as many as I shot, 



