102 How I Became a Sportsman. 



had killed a fair lot of snipe, but never a 

 woodcock, indeed, I do not think I had ever 

 seen one on the wing ; but I had often longed 

 for a shot at that glorious bird, and my 

 ambition was fired by the advertisem.ent in 

 question; and having made due inquiries by 

 letter, a very tempting programme was held 

 out to us, and away we went. My friend 

 Fisher was only a few years older than myself, 

 equally fond of the gun ; but he had also never 

 killed a cock. We took down with us a brace 

 of spaniels, one was a liver and white mottled 

 bitch called Fan, a very steady, hard-working 

 animal, the other was a black and tan dog 

 of very large size, as big and heavy as a 

 Clumber (one of a breed then celebrated at 

 Berkeley Castle) ; but from that time to this I 

 have never seen the like of him. He was an 

 extremely handsome dog, and would have made 

 a little fortune on the show bench, now dog 

 shows are so much in vogue. 



I think it was about five o'clock in the 

 morning when we left Gloucester, and were 

 the only passengers on the outside of the 

 coach ; it was a beastly foggy morning, with 

 a most uncomfortable drizzle falling. The 



