A DEATH-BED VISION 291 



places with his employer, whom he roundly abused 

 for the mistakes he made in placing stops and manag- 

 ing the beaters. The climax of this was the unkindest 

 cut of all. The gamekeeper dreamt that his employer, 

 far from bearing him any ill-will for the abuse, sent 

 to his cottage on Christmas Eve a large tin of tobacco, 

 beneath the lid of which was a ten-pound note. This 

 worthy old man has had many queer dreams in his 

 time if we are to believe him. He is ready to con- 

 fess, for the sake of the story following the confession, 

 that he has never really mastered the art of shooting 

 driven partridges. But one night he dreamt that he 

 had brought off the most masterly right and left, and 

 from far and near congratulations on his brace poured 

 upon him. Then he awoke to find himself in his own 

 familiar chair by the fireside, in the chill dawn of a 

 winter morning, and the local doctor, who was also a 

 sportsman, was telling him how there had arrived 

 safely in the room upstairs a brace of fine young 

 keepers. 



' 



We can vouch for the truth of this fox story : An 

 old keeper the keeper of a shoot where partridges 



were preferred to foxes lay dying. It was 

 A Death- i a t e in May, when the partridges were be- 

 Vision g* nnm g to sit. Suddenly he called for his 



two sons and told them of a dream. In a 

 certain burrow in a certain wood adjoining his par- 

 tridge fields he had dreamt of a litter of cubs. And 



