272 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



eye a hare has slipped out of sight. A shot rings 

 out, echoes and re-echoes ; another, and doubles, 

 and clusters of shots. The old wood is the old wood 

 still. 



Perhaps not many shooting men remember much 

 about the old days of the muzzle-loader, or could 



recall all the items of the paraphernalia 

 Memories necessary for a fair day's sport. In spite of 

 Muzzle- a ^ th e i r drawbacks, wonderful feats were 

 loaders performed by the old guns ; and certainly 



there was a truer ring about the word sport 

 in the good old times. A fancy-dress shooting party, 

 with the sportsmen in the old-time shooting-suits, 

 armed with muzzle-loaders, would be entertaining 



if dangerous. How many members of the party 

 would arrive on the scene of action with all the 

 appliances necessary for the firing of a fowling-piece 



powder, shot, wads, and caps ? And who would 

 know how to load his weapon, even with powder, 

 shot, wads, and caps at hand ? The man who did not 

 know how to load would be in a bad way, for, of course, 

 no valets could be allowed on the scene, even suppos- 

 ing they might know more than their masters. Short- 

 tempered men would be exploding perpetually in 

 wrath at the delays caused by the process of loading, 

 while birds were rising and going away we have 

 heard powerful language addressed even to the 

 modern weapon when it has been responsible for a 



