TYPES OF SHOOTERS Ig 
flee from him at any cost, and even shoot him 
rather than allow him to shoot you. And it is 
well to keep an eye on a man who turns up 
wearing gaiters of a pattern popular with gardeners 
—black gaiters, with an intense natural shininess 
and knee-cap extension. You may feel comfort- 
able next to the man who does not shoot to dress, 
but dresses to shoot; he is as unlikely to shoot 
you as to fail in his duty toward the bag. Only 
once do I remember to have been grossly deceived 
by the outward appearance of a shooter—and it was 
a double-barrelled take-in. The expression of the 
man’s face alone seemed to tell one that he could 
not shoot. His get-up, though not alarming, was 
hopelessly impossible. He reminded me of the 
gaitered gentleman one sees doing a round with 
a grocer’s cart. But, by Jove! that man could 
shoot. When not able to see him I could tell 
where he was by the way the pheasants collapsed. 
Two birds coming at the same time—bang, bang! 
and he had them right and left time after time. 
That was not all: his birds seemed to close their 
wings, curve their necks toward their crop, turn 
breast upwards, and come down bump—all in the 
twinkling of an eye. Occasionally there was an 
extra special bird that would turn along the front 
of the guns; there would be a string of shots, till 
my deceiver’s turn came. I still think that shooter 
must have lost his kit-bag. 
