POACHING PARTRIDGES 73 
of all the short cuts. He knows, too, all the obstacles 
that might impede a hasty flight. Sometimes he 
turns his attention to farm lands bordering on large 
towns ; more often he journeys further afield, making 
mental notes of a practical character as a preparation 
to the initiation of a fresh campaign. His arrange- 
ments are often brought to a head in the parlour of 
some innocent-looking public-house. The tastes of the 
proprietor probably include a weakness for sport in 
the abstract, and he acquiesces sympathetically in the 
eccentricities of his patrons. Nor is this altogether 
surprising, if we consider that a plump hare or a 
brace of young partridges would form an acceptable 
addition to his Sunday dinner. Indeed, we strongly 
suspect that in his early days our host himself occa- 
sionally figured in transactions of a dubious kind. A 
hint of this may be found in the homely construc- 
tion of the walking-stick gun which hangs from the 
oaken beam in the kitchen; while, if further proof be 
needed, the adroitness with which our landlord takes 
the weapon to pieces, and stows it in his capacious 
pockets, argues something more than a chance ac- 
quaintance with its mechanism. 
The task of marking down coyeys of partridges is 
often facilitated by a hint from some local worthy 
who has a grudge to pay off against a discarded 
