Dartmoor. 157 



they were upon me. I was under the fence, 

 and they were just past me before I was dis- 

 covered. In an instant they were off like two 

 swifts, diverging right and left ; but they were 

 not quick enough for the leaden shower which 

 reached them, and down they came in good 

 style. 



I was uncommonly cocky, the reader may 

 imagine, and went home a great deal quicker 

 and better than I had gone up, and it very 

 nearly cured my foot for a time. I have often 

 asked myself the question whether it was quite 

 a legitimate and sportsman-like thing to kill 

 the poor birds after dusk, and on the way to 

 their feed ; but then, I argued that circum- 

 stances alter cases, and in this case it was 

 excusable. 



Not very long since I was mentioning this 

 circumstance to the head-keeper of a well- 

 known Welsh squire, who is great in the dog 

 line, when he said, " Oh, that's nothing! I'll be 



bound Mr. L has done that fifty times in 



his life." I said, " Oh, I suppose that's some- 

 thingy I swallowed the dose, cum grano satis, 

 and a pretty good-sized grain too. All I 

 know is, that I have never done it since, and 



