230 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
pose just as well. Do not shout uncomplimentary 
remarks to beaters and under-keepers, or issue 
orders in pothouse phraseology. The beaters will 
only laugh among themselves, and say, ‘ Hark at 
old So-and-so rappin’ it out agen!’ Moreover, 
such an exhibition is not a recommendation to 
sportsmen compelled to hear it. It is useful 
always to remember that ‘Come along, men,’ 
goes a lot further than ‘Go on.’ You can lead 
beaters where you cannot drive them. 
Soldiers home on furlough I was always glad 
to get as beaters. Though they may lack technical 
knowledge, they do as they are told, and they keep 
in line—two things of the greatest importance to 
good beating. To teach beaters to preserve a 
good line I have found more difficult than any- 
thing else. Though they may absorb a fair notion 
of a straight line, they seem to be quite incapable 
of realizing that a hooked line, 4 semicircle, or any 
line which involves a curve, at the same time may 
be even, and not zigzag. This failure is most 
evident when you signal to the right or left wing 
of a line of partridge-drivers to get forward. The 
third and fourth men probably will bore ahead 
out of all proportion to the second and first, and, 
of course, nullify the very object of the move. 
Lazy beaters must not be allowed to have their 
own way. If you watch a party of beaters told off 
to line out ready to begin a covert beat, you will 
notice how some of them scheme to get the 
