14 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
touched that he confided to me that his brother-in- 
law could ‘’andle a gun jest about,’ and that the 
year before, during the cutting of a piece of ‘carn 
Over against yonder beechen belt,’ he had shot no 
fewer than seven rabbits in succession. The setting 
of so high a standard made me feel a bit nervous 
for my own reputation, till I discovered that the 
aforesaid brother-in-law had waited till each rabbit 
stopped and ‘set up.’ He simply ignored those 
that did not stop to ‘set up,’ or did not ‘set up’ 
long enough for him to align his piece. However, 
it was not long before I blotted out the brother-in- 
law's record. It was on the occasion of the cutting 
of some rye-grass. I felt like burying my head in 
a hare-pocket when ’Enry, the head-carter (he of 
the ‘wutts’ and ‘darls’), told his mates that ‘he 
was blest if ever in all ‘is life he’d seen sich a feller 
to shoot. Whether they be a-runnin’ strite or 
caperin’ like bla-azes all over the shop, he do jest 
about cocksteddle ’em over—there b’ain’t no mistake 
about that.’ 
Of course, I had lost no time in making the 
acquaintance of the famous brother-in-law. There 
might be wrinkles to be gained, I thought, even 
from a man who shot seven ‘set-up’ rabbits in 
succession. Another thing: he had permission to 
take a gun with him to work, for the purpose of 
scaring rooks and pigeons, and shooting any of 
them he could. He was rather beyond the middle 
