274 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
at least one hand of a tip before the reception of - 
another. Firstly, it is embarrassing for men of 
unequal means to see each other's coins; secondly, 
the keeper naturally likes to keep each sportsman’s 
tip separate ; and, thirdly, a keeper’s hands may not 
be big enough to hold more than a certain amount 
of coins, especially large silver coins, and he may 
drop some, which is a breach of etiquette. I have 
heard it said of a one-armed keeper that at no time 
did he feel the want of two hands so acutely as 
when two shooters wished to tip him at the same: 
time. 
Once I thought I had lost a whole crop of tips 
after a very good day. Everything I had done was 
quite the reverse of deserving such a thing. The 
guns walked off without so much as one of them 
saying ‘Good-night,’ or wanting to know what the 
bag was, or even where was a cartridge-bag. | 
thought they must have hatched a strike against 
tipping. I felt a bit hurt, till, after I had had some 
tea, my wife produced a double handful of coins, 
and explained how, while she was feeding her 
chickens, the guns had come past, and had caused 
her to stand at the receipt of custom. After many 
years of experience, I became so expert at handling 
tips that I could tell their value by sense of touch; 
when I failed was when I mistook half a sovereign 
for sixpence, or a pound for a shilling. Once or 
twice it was the other way on. 
