278 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
saying that they had started on a journey in charge 
of his wife. I did not know his wife—even by 
sight; and I felt like telling him that I had 
heard of wives wearing the trousers, but never 
cartridge-bags. Cartridge-bags always should be 
attached to a gun-case or magazine, and not treated 
as miscellaneous baggage. There are plenty of men 
who will spend gold on the purchase of their 
cartridge-bags, yet, apparently, begrudge the few 
pence to have their names (not merely their initials) 
put on them plainly. Any cartridge-bag with a 
narrow strap or webbing ought to be carried by 
the owner. 
To carry about two or three hundred cartridges 
is not the lightest of occupations. Still, the weight 
of cartridges never gave me much trouble, especially 
when there was a fair prospect of their being shot 
off, preferably on my own beat. Yet the sling of 
a cartridge-bag, where it pressed, always produced 
a pain like a cross between sciatica and toothache, 
even after carrying for an hour or two a bag with 
only fifty cartridges in it. The pain would remain 
for hours after the cause had been removed. I 
found it a good plan to stuff my handkerchief 
over the spot, beneath my coat. 
A keeper must command respect, but avoid 
familiarity. It is always a good sign when one 
hears a keeper spoken of as ‘Mr. So-and-so’ by 
labourers, though his employer may be merely 
‘Old So-and-so.’ A link of friendliness between 
