THE PINNATED GROUSE. 43 
she refused to accept any such terms, and laughingly 
told them they were more concerned about giving the 
gloves than being beaten—a statement which elicited a 
smiling glance of feigned reproof from her father, and 
an astonished exclamation of ‘‘Oh, you awful!” while 
the Captain slyly intimated that she was so much afraid 
of anything like an equal contest that, woman-like, she 
held on to all the advantages she possessed. 
“¢ And quite right, too,” was the response; ‘else how 
could woman keep the world in order? But I shan’t 
argue the matter with you any further now, as I want 
some chickens for the surprise party to-night, and as 
you don’t seem inclined to get them, we must; so, au re- 
voir.” 
Calling the pointers into the carriage, she turned the 
pony’s head to the right, and giving him a light touch 
of the whip, put him into a fast trot. The last cry I 
heard as we were moving off was that of the General, 
who suggested to us not to run away with the lunch. 
‘¢Oh, won’t it be delightful if we can beat them?” 
said my fair companion, with childish enthusjasm, when 
we were a short distance away, ‘‘as I do very much want 
to win those gloves from the Captain, and boast of hav- 
ing beaten papa and himself, for they consider them- 
selves great shots. Our chances of beating them are 
good, as one of them must hold the team while the other 
shoots, whereas my pony will stand fire, and thus enable 
us to work untrammelled. I can therefore help you in 
securing any birds you wound, but would escape without 
a little more salting.” 
As she was kind enough not to intimate that I would 
miss a bird, I began a weak sort of examination relative 
to the Captain’s prowess with the gun, and soon learned 
that he was not only formidable with that weapon, but 
also with Cupid’s bow, for he had evidently deeply 
4 
