My First Woodcock. 105 



of the coach ; it was rather dry and without salt, 

 but we enjoyed it nevertheless, and only regretted 

 we had not carried off the ham as well. 



The coach passed within fourteen miles of 

 our destination, and we hired an old shandy 

 dan, called a fly, to take us on. We arrived at 

 last, and found a very large old inn, about hali 

 furnished, but the room we were ushered into 

 looked comfortable enough, barring a freshly- 

 lighted fire and a rather smoky fire-place ; 

 however, we ordered our dinner, anticipating 

 which they had got ready a small leg of 

 Welsh mutton, to which I need scarcely say 

 we did ample justice. The fire by this time 

 had burnt brightly up, so we hauled up a large 

 old-fashioned sofa in front of the fire and 

 made ourselves comfortable; and having ordered 

 a bottle of port, we asked the landlord to join 

 us, and to talk over the prospect of sport for 

 the morrow. He was a decent, genial sort of 

 fellow, and entered heart and soul into our 

 plans and our port. 



" Anybody else staying here ? " I inquired. 



" Well, yes, there is a gentleman from Bath, 

 who comes every year." 



My spirits went down to zero. No doubt 



