248 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
I was not so lucky with another dog, which I 
bought chiefly in self-defence. He was a rather 
leggy, harum-scarum-looking black spaniel, belong- 
ing to a publican on the far edge of my beat, and 
spent most of his time exploring my ground. It 
was painfully evident to me that the brute had 
a good nose. The nesting season was coming 
on. I interviewed the publican, and he wanted 
thirty shillings for the spaniel, which I refused 
to give. A few days afterwards I got a message 
that he would take twenty-five shillings. The 
nesting season had begun: birds soon would be 
sitting. I set off with a sovereign in my pocket, 
and returned with the dog. By Jove, wasn’t he 
wild! I put a lead on him, in spite of which, 
when passing through a wood, he pranced about 
and gave tongue violently at the mere prospect 
before him. I sent him off to an officer who 
had some rough shooting, and wanted a spaniel— 
asking thirty shillings. This sum was sent to me, 
I heard afterwards, in a weak moment, on the 
strength of the dog’s appearance, and my state- 
ment that he had a good nose and would retrieve. 
A few months afterwards I had the pleasure of 
hearing that the dog had given up his evil ways, 
and was the best worker his new owner ever had 
possessed, and that money could not buy him. 
Almost all my dog-dealing plums came by luck ; 
whenever I had a dog or puppies to sell, it never 
