JOYS AND SORROWS 297 
have. And, luckily for my peace of mind, by the 
next morning I was too ‘ rough’ to think of partridge 
driving or anything else. I discovered in a rather 
curious way that I was in the grip of jaundice. For 
some days I had felt a little bit out of tune internally. 
I went some miles to fetch a setty pheasant’s nest, 
and, having tightened my belt, placed the eggs 
inside my shirt next the skin of my lower bosom, so 
to speak. I had a very miserable walk home, for 
the slight pressure of the eggs increased the discord 
within me. However, I was not going to risk 
chilling the eggs. I reached home, put the eggs 
safely beneath a hen—and very soon collapsed. I 
do not want to have jaundice again, if only for the 
fact that it entails an exclusive diet of milk and soda. 
I had about twenty-five hens sitting on the first 
batch of pheasant eggs. Fortunately, I was able 
to get an old keeper to come and lift them on and 
off to feed; and before they hatched I had got up 
steam again. Another spring I had a dose of 
mumps, when I was over thirty. I do not want 
any more. I had a cold about twice in three years, 
and always a chest circumference four inches greater 
than that of my waist. I hope it may be so always. 
During the last few years I seldom was entirely free 
from sciatica and lumbago, which occasionally would 
have a field-day at my expense. Since the day I 
left game-keeping I have not had so much as a growl 
from either. 
