How I became a sportsman : being early reminiscences of a veteran sportsman

ECAML
SPORTSAL

BV'kVON

m

JOHNA.SEAVERNS

HOW I BECAME A

SPORTSMAN

HOW I BECAME A

SPORTSMAN

BEING EARLY REMINISCENCES OF A

VETERAN SPORTSMAN

BY

''AVON"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

VEREKER M. HAMILTON

J^eto Cbitian

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL

Limited

1888

Richard Clav & Sons,

bread street hill, london,

Bjutgay, Suffolk.

DEDICATED

BY PERMISSION TO
MINETY HOUSE, WILTS.

My Dear Sir,

In asking your permission to dedicate
my little book to you, I did so on three grounds :
first, that I know you to have been a thorough
sportsman for nearly half a century. It is not
every man who is equally at home across country,
with the gun, and the fishing-rod ; but I know
that I may say so of yourself without a particle
of flattery.

The man who could forge his way to the front
over the walls of the Cotswolds, or the strongly-
fenced and deep clay of the far-famed Braydon
country, on a "Jovial," or creep, and have the best
of it, on a mule, who could do all but climb a tree^
needs no pen of mine to proclaim a fox-hunter.

Of your quickness in killing a cock I might
quote an instance, and your zeal as a fisherman

VI DEDICATION.

is proved by keeping a tame pike to remind you
that there are as good fish in the sea (or river)
as ever came out of it.

My next ground was, that some of the incidents
I have attempted to narrate may serve to remind
you of a good specimen of a country gentleman
and sportsman, a mutual friend (who is now, alas !
no more), with whom we have enjoyed many happy
days' sport.

My last ground was, that I have had the honour
to serve with you in the " Tented Field," and I
look back with pleasure to past days under your
command.

I feel that what I have written of my early
experiences as a sportsman are scarcely worthy
of being published, but ce que j'en escrit est pour
7me citriosite, qui plaira possibleinent a aucuns est
non possiblement aux aiLtres.

Allow me then to thank you for so kindly
allowing me to dedicate my book to you, and
with feelings of great regard for yourself and your
family, to subscribe myself by my " Nojii de
Plume',' which I adopted many years since from
having, whilst hunting, plumbed the depths of the
river from which I took it, three times in one
season.

Yours faithfully,

" Avon."

INTRODUCTION

In venturing to place before the public this
little work, the author does not for one moment
attempt to claim for it anything more than an
endeavour to give a hint to the embryo, or
perhaps to amuse the more mature or declining,
sportsman. As the title expresses, these reminis-
cences are the author's early experiences only, and
must not therefore b-^ expected to throw very
much daylight on the subjects treated of. Nor
must the reader expect any learned advice or
dissertations on sport in general ; still at times
a point or two will crop up which the author
considers to be crucial ones in making a good,
bad, or indifferent sportsman, particularly in what
relates to the gun.

With regard to that most charming and en-
grossing of all sports, " The Noble Science',' the
author has given little more than his first appear-
ance with, and entry to, fox-hounds (hoping at
some future time to add to them some incidents

X INTRODUCTION.

of his later life, more worthy of the experienced
sportsman's perusal), trusting that they may find a
response in the increased pulsation of many a
young and gallant heart.

Whatever merit these pages may possess, if
any, the author feels a satisfaction in stating
that the incidents related are substantially true,
and contain actual experiences of his early life
as a sportsman (of course with names and places
slightly altered), and as such he must leave them :
having said this much, he goes at it as he would at
a bullfinch, viz., throws his heart over, and trusts
with luck to get to the other side, safely he hopes,
possibly with a scramble, but at all events without
a fall, only asking the reader to be —

" To his virtues ever kind,
And to his faults a little blind."

CONTENTS.

CHAI

L

MY FIRST GUN

PAGE
I

11.

MY FIRST PONY ... .:

... 19

III.

A BLACK DIAMOND ...

... 45

IV.

MY FIRST OF SEPTEMBER

... 57

V.

TWO BIG PIKE

... 82

VI.

MY FIRST WOODCOCK

... lOI

VII.

OLD BEN

... 122

VIIL

DARTMOOR

... 140

IX.

THE BIG TROUT

... 164

X.

FOX-HUNTING

... 186

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

RAPID ... ... ... ... ... ... Frontispiece

"FROM THAT MOMENT TO SNIPE I DEVOTED

myself" To face page i6

' ' WELL DONE ! " SAID LEWIS, " A REGULAR

cock-shot" ^.. ■ „ no

SALMON-FISHING ON THE LYNN ... „ 1 79

HOW I BECAME A SPORTSxMAN.

CHAPTER I.

MY FIRST GUN.

" Soon from the uplifted tube the mimic thunder bursts, the
leaden death overtakes him, and with many a giddy
whirl to earth he falls." — SOMERVILLE.

An idea is sometimes forced upon me that I
must have been born a sportsman, or at least
wiA very strong sporting instincts, which very
soon began to show and gradually develop
themselves ; or perhaps I might have imbibed
them in my pap. Horses and dogs were my
first loves. I have often heard my poor mother
say, that after trying for hours to rock me to
sleep, she would look in the cradle (the now
fashionable herceaunette was not then invented)
when she thought I was gone off, and there,

2 How I Became a Sportsman.

she would say, you were, with your great eyes
wide open, looking like a woodcock. How
little she thought how fond her precious bant-
ling would be of that same woodcock when he
grew up. And then she would go on to tell
me that nothing would make me go off to
sleep till I had been taken out in my night-
clothes in the arms of old Tom, our man-of-
all-work, to look at the horses. This seemed
to satisfy me, and I would go off to sleep as
quietly as the fondest of mothers could desire.
Well, no matter how it came, the love of
horses, dogs, and woodcocks was there ; and
as soon as I grew old enough, an insatiable
longing for all kinds of sport, or anything
connected with it, seemed to take hold of me,
and has continued through life.

And now, when the evening of my days is
fast drawing to a close, and the sinews and
muscles begin to show signs of losing (though
I am very loth to believe, and won't give in to
it, for I am still able to take a fifteen or twenty
mile constitutional) their wonted elasticity and
firmness, the same keen love of hunting,
shooting, and fishing gives a zest to all — such
of them as my means will allow.

My First Gun. 3

My father, who was engaged in professional
pursuits, was a sportsman to a certain extent.
He was very fond and a good judge of horses,
and always kept two or three good ones. He
was also a rare judge of cattle ; and if he had
not been cut off somewhat before his time,
w^ould have made his mark in the shorthorn
world. But, fond as he was of horses and
cattle, he most cordially hated a dog or a gun,
particularly the latter. (His dislike of the
former was occasioned by. his having some of
his pigs bitten by a mad dog ; I just recollect
seeing them raving mad, and their being shot.)

There was another thing which very much
increased my sporting tastes and propensities.
In my father's library there were, besides a few
other books on sports, including Daniel's Rural
Sports^ a rare lot of the old Sporting Magazine ;
and long before I could read, every time I
could get the chance I was continually looking
at and devouring, with all my eyes, the engrav-
ings which they contained. I soon learned to
know every one of them, and even to this day
I can remember and describe them all ; they
made an impression time cannot, death only
can, eiface.

4 How I Became a Sportsman.

I have said that my father hated the sight
of a eun, and I believe he dishked the sound
quite as much, as he never would go near
anybody who w^as out shooting; but that
did not spoil his taste for game, to w^hich he
was particularly partial. Well, he had a gun
all the same, but I feel sure he did not know it,
nor was he aw^are of its existence, until that fact
was brought to his know^ledge in a manner
hereafter to be told. I one fortunate or un-
fortunate day made the discovery — a fact which
I kept to myself and a chum for some con-
siderable time. As early as I can rememberj
any odds and ends appertaining to sport, such
as an old whip or spur, a dog-w^histle, an odd
stirrup, parts of fishing-rods, or any other un-
considered trifle which I found lying about, had
a particular and irresistible charm for me ; and
I carefully laid them by in a place of safety
until they could be brought into use ; and by
the time that I w^as about twelve years of age, I
had what I then considered a rare and valuable
collection. At all events, it w^as unique, and
w4ien the gun above alluded to was added to
it, was considered by myself and a sporting
chum Ben (the son of an old poacher also

My First Gun. 5

named Ben), whom I had made acquaintance
with, almost perfect. I can recollect when I
was very young nearly w^orrying my poor old
grandmother's life out of her by continually
teasing her to make me whips. The old lady
tried her best, and I used to stand looking
on, continually making suggestions, saying,
"That's not the way," till the good-natured old
creature would say, " There's no pleasing the
brat," and would put on her bonnet, and march
off to a toy-shop and buy me a whip. But I
never took to anything in the shape of toys like
most children ; what I wanted was a real whip,
" a man's whip." At length the old lady routed
out from somewhere or other a colossal and
dilapidated hunting-whip, which entirely satisfied
my fastidious taste, and I prized it accordingly.
It was rather an awkward size for so young a
child ; but no matter, it was a genuine article.

Young Ben was a year or two older than
myself, and on account of his relationship to
so sporting a character, was, in my opinion, an
absolute authority on all matters connected with
dogs, guns, and sporting appliances in general.
Tn a sort of attic or lumber-room in the house
there was an

6 How I Became a Sportsman.

Old oak chest, which had long lain hid ;
We found it unlocked, and raised the lid.

And there (what a glorious find !), besides a
magnificent bundle of broken fishing-rods
and crippled walking-sticks, was a gun, a real
gun, with lock, stock, and barrel all complete,
and not a flaw to be found in it, barring the
lock, which was certainly uncommonly stiff.
The gun was exactly that cut so graphically
described in the song 'The Old English
Gentleman ' —

" This gun it was old-fashioned,
A regular flint and steel.
Wide muzzled and a kicker,
It was heavy in the heel."

No matter, it was a gun, and from that
moment I abandoned all thoughts of bringing
into use a cross-bow, upon which, with the aid
of a friendly locksmith, I had been a long time
at work ; and from that moment I centred all
my energies upon the kicker (as I afterwards
called it, and not unjustly), which was about
six feet long, short in the stock, not very large
in the bore when you got down below the
first two inches, but being bell-mouthed, it
looked as if it would scatter the shot well over
a good-sized archery target ; and I may as well

My First Gun. 7

say at once, that its subsequent performance
did not at all belie its appearance.

When my father was away from home
on one of his hunting days, or I knew he
was away on business, and that I should be
perfectly safe from interruption, with the assist-
ance of Ben, great preparations were made
for ascertaining how this ancient but most
interesting fire-arm would perform ; and as it
had so long lain hid it was necessary to be
cautious. Accordingly, we began by degrees,
first of all putting a little powder in the
barrel, filling the pan, and snapping it off (my
collection included some flints, which now
came into use). We then determined to try a
real charge, which having accomplished by
ramming down newspaper on the top of the
pbwder and shot by way of wadding, we tied
the gun to a tree, fixed a target of brown
paper at about thirty yards off; we then tied
a string to the trigger, retired to a safe distance
(my memory does not serve me exactly, but
I rather fancy we took the precaution of
getting round the corner of a wall), and let
drive. Glorious was the report, and most
satisfactory the appearance of the target! I

8 How I Became a Sportsman.

don't suppose gunmakers would have called it
a good pattern, as it was considerably uneven
— two or three shots close together, and then
perhaps an interval of half a foot. No matter,
the gun was a gun, would go off, and hit any-
thing, as we agreed, and we at once proceeded
to put into practice the attempt which is said
to be inherent in every Englishman, which I
suppose includes boys, " to kill something."

But whether it was our nervousness, the
scattering of the gun, or the unsteadiness of a
small boy trying to hold up such a lengthy
piece, I don't know, but we had to give it up
for that day without a single member of the
feathered tribe coming to grief. The next
attempt was more successful, having obtained
some smaller shot, and also adopted the ex-
pedient of getting a rest for the gun, through
the fork of a tree, or a friendly bank, until at
last we became fairly successful. When I say
we, I mean that I did all the shooting, Ben
the prompting, general advising, looking on,
and approving.

Shortly before this time I had made the
acquaintance of a most valuable auxiliary in
the sporting Hne. I was upon terms of nod-

My First Gun. 9

ding with old Chiarlie, the drummer of the
town band, who was a very great man in my
opinion. He would be considered a queer
figure for a drummer in these days ; his dress
(that is, his full dress) consisted of a long blue
frock coat very high in the collar, very short
in the waist, tight about the sleeves, and with a
general a{3pearance of there not having been
quite cloth enough, the whole finished off with
brass buttons, not many of them, but rather
large, a pair of what had been once white
buckskin breeches, bright tan leather gaiters,
a large wide napless hat, a rather good-tem-
pered-looking face, with a mouth always half
open, showing two or three long, ragged, and
yellow teeth ; the whole surmounted by a
pair of large green spectacles, and you have
aid Charlie the drummer. I had almost
forgotten one article, upon which he particu-
larly prided himself: that was a very wide,
well-cleaned white leather band, which en-
veloped his neck to support the drum, and
which gave him, as a finish to the blue coat,
a sort of semi-military appearance. Whenever
I had an opportunity I always ''followed the
drum," and at last got on speaking terms with

lo How I Became a Sportsman.

the drummer, who asked me to his house, and
then introduced me to his brother " Willum."
In appearance he was much on a par with
Charlie, attired in just such another scanty,
long-tailed, high-collared blue coat ; but his
breeches and gaiters, instead of being of leather,
were made of the old-fashioned drab kersey-
mere of everlasting wear. They had lost their
original lustre, and from long wear had ac-
quired an artificial one. " Willum's" face was
the picture of good-humour, which shadowed
forth his real nature. One peculiarity of his
was, that he always had a large, clear drop at
the end of his nose, which he never attempted
to wipe off; and when he was at work at his
trade, it was a great source of amusement to
me to watch the drop getting larger and larger,
until it fell into whatever work he was engaged
upon ; and when he caught me laughing,
which he very often did, he would exclaim,
"Ah! I s'pose my nose drapped again."

There was a daughter of Charles's, to whom
I was duly presented, who rejoiced in the name
of " Our Sarah Ann," aged about thirty, with
whom I at once fell in love. It certainly could
not have been for her beauty : she was short,

My First Gux. i i

decidedly, with a small red nose which pointed
towards the skies, that is to say, if a snub nose
can be said to point ; but what she wanted in
good looks was made up by the family amia-
bility. I believe I had serious thoughts of
eventually marrying this young heiress; but
" I never told my love," putting it off to that
doubtful occasion, some day, when I might be
in a position to take to her father's business,
and retain the drummer, like Herr Von Joel at
Evans's, always on the establishment. I found
out that this young lady taught dancing and
deportment generally, and had a class not of
boys and girls, but of grown-up young men
and women. It was never my luck to see the
performances, but I can easily imagine it would
have been a sight for sore eyes. I am much
^raid that I took advantage of the good-
nature of the family generally. I made use of
Charlie by getting him to let me go with him
to the clubs that he attended in his professional
capacity, and as they always marched round
the towx. on their days of meeting, carrying
long white wands in their hands painted red
from about eighteen inches from the tip,
when I could, through his interest, get hold

12 How I Became a Sportsman.

of one of their staves I was in my glory.
^'Our Sarah Ann" I made use of by getting
her to cook my game (as I could not take it
home, it had before fallen to the lot of Ben)
for me. It is true they presented, when served
up, rather a spread-eagley appearance, the legs
and wings standing out wide from the body
in a manner which would have horrified a
cook ; but what did it matter ? I thought
them perfection.

On one occasion I made the whole family
a present of a rabbit which we had somehow
knocked over. Being in the summer-time,
perhaps the rabbit could not have been con-
sidered exactly a piece de resistance by more
fastidious people ; besides, it had rather a
ragged, lanky appearance, and gave other indi-
cations of having recently brought up a young
family. However, it was the first rabbit I had
killed, and it was appreciated accordingly, no
doubt.

To "Willum" I am afraid I was the most
troublesome ; but he never seemed to mind it.
I was constantly in his w^ork-shop (he was a
lock and gunsmith), which shop was filled
to overflowing with, to my sporting tastes,

My First Gux. 13

treasures innumerable — old guns and parts of
guns in all stages of rust and decay^ barrels,
stocks, locks, and ram-rods, which I was never
tired of inspecting. I don't think anybody ever
sent a gun of any value to " Willum " to be
repaired. They consisted chiefly of poachers'
guns, bird-keeping guns, and the like; and I
should fancy the outside value of the best I
ever saw there was about fifteen shillings.

There was another member of this interest-
ing family, who always sat huddled up in the
chimney-corner, and was called '^father"; but
whose father he was I did not know. He
appeared to be very old, and when not en-
gaged in coughing and wheezing, was always
smoking.

Soon after I had made the acquaintance
of this family, on going in one day I missed
him from his usual corner; and on making
inquiry, I was met by the announcement of
" father's gone " ; but whether he had taken
into his head to go to bed or to go out for
a walk I was not informed. I afterwards dis-
covered that he was dead, and asked if any
doctor attended him. " Willum " said no ; he
was only taken poorly the day before, and as

14 How I Became a Sportsman.

they had killed a pig, he made him a " nice
drap of feeky guel," which being interpreted,
meant, the flick or lard out of the pig cut up
and boiled in the gruel. Whether it actually
killed the old man or not I cannot say ; but
I should fancy it would have been too much
for the stomach of an ostrich, let alone any
ordinary mortal.

But I fear I have got off the line terribly,
and have quite forgotten the gun. I had made
by this time considerable progress in the art
of shooting, sitting or standing ; but flying I
could make no hand of at all, which, with the
length of the gun, and the time it took to go
oflT, is not to be wondered at. I never suc-
ceeded in hitting anything, or at all events in
bringing it to bag. By and by it began to
dawn upon me that it must be the fault of the
gun, and I consulted with " Willum " upon the
advisability of converting it into a percussion.
This he thought he could manage, and very
kindly offered to do it free of charge ; but I
must give him time, as he must do it at odd
times, so as not to interfere with his regular
work. This of course I very readily agreed
to ; but I fancy my patience was considerably

My First Gux. 15

taxed before the job was completed. The gun
being conveyed in due course to the workshop,
the iirst thing that was done was to cut about
a foot off the barrel ; and after months of
waiting, a very satisfactory-looking weapon was
turned out.

And though since that time I have owned
guns by Boss Purdey, Dougall, Westley,
Richards, Powell, Lancaster, Lang, Pope, Hol-
land, and many other first-rate English makers,
including a genuine old Joe Manton, I do not
think that any of these eclipsed, in my estima-
tion at that time, the delight I experienced in
the possession of the converted old kicker.
Strange to say, notwithstanding the mutilation,
the gun was much improved in its shooting,
and I soon succeeded in bringing down birds
on the wing, but I shortly afterwards began
to tire of such small deer, and longed for some
more noble quarry. On talking the matter over
with young Ben, he suggested moorhens, and
said he could bring his father's old dog "Jack,"
a large, wiry, old-fashioned grizzly black-and-
tan terrier, and great sport we often had with
him. Jack was a capital dog for the sport, and
managed to catch quite as many as I shot,

1 6 How I Became a Sportsman.

and many a luckless moorhen I succeeded in
knocking over; but "Jack" liad one fault — he
would not retrieve, so that we lost many birds
from their falling in the water, where we could
not get at them. A happy thought occurred
to me, and I invented a most effective retriever
— simply a piece of hard wood about a foot
long, with a piece of string long enough to reach
across the other side of the river. Whenever
a bird fell in the stream the string was un-
wound, the piece of wood flung beyond the
bird, and hauled in. It of course very often
happened that a good many throws were
necessary to secure our prize, but we generally
succeeded in the end.

One day, in walking down the river, a bird
dashed up from under my feet and darted
away like lightning. " What was that ? " said
I. " Snipe," said Ben. The very thing ! and
from that moment to snipe I devoted myself,
not to killing them, but firing at them. I
soon found out the likely places : in frosty
weather certain spots down the river held
snipe ; and no matter how often I visited the
places, the snipe were always at home. They
did not seem to mind my firing at them in

My First Gun. 17

the least, until one day I managed to knock
one over. He fell on the bank on the oppo-
site side ; there he lay on his back, and no
efforts of mine with the retriever succeeded in
getting him mto the stream ; but I could not
lose such a prize as this, and decided to leave
Ben to watch while I walked to a bridge about
a mile down stream. When I got to the spot
there lay my bird all right, and I shall never
forget the feeling of satisfaction with which I
carried it to '* Willum." I also managed not
long after to kill a wood-pigeon flying, and
began to feel myself getting quite a crack shot,
when my shooting for a time was suddenly
brought to a full stop.

Whenever I wanted to use the gun I had to
use great caution in smuggling it in and out
of-^the house, and one day, having done that
abominably stupid and dangerous thing, taken
the gun into the house loaded, I hid it away
in the usual place — a long square cupboard
under an old ofBce desk, amongst old um-
brellas, shutter- rods, and other odds and ends ;
when, unfortunately, a younger brother got
feeling in there for something, and the gun,
as guns always will when they are not expected,

1 8 How I Became a Sportsman.

" went off." Great was the commotion amongst
the whole family. My father was in the house,
and somehow he intuitively fixed upon me as
the culprit. The whole story was got out bit
by bit. I was forbidden to go near " Willum "
or Ben, and in other respects it would have
been as well for this child if I had never
found or seen that gun. I did not see it again
for many years ; how and when will be here-
after related.

However, I learnt one lesson from this
catastrophe — never to take a loaded gun into
a house again ; and I never have from that
day to this.

19

CHAPTER II.

MY FIRST PONY.

"A horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse /"

Shakespeare.

I FIRST learnt to ride upon an old snaffle-
bridle hunter of my father's named " Rapid,"
whose portrait still hangs in my breakfast-room,
and a photograph of which it is intended shall
form a frontispiece to these papers ; and my
readers will probably agree with me when I say
he was a perfect model of a fourteen stone
hunter, possessing breeding and power. He
was a grand mover all round — one of the best
walkers I ever saw, could trot twelve miles an
hour, a rare galloper, was as good-tempered
as he was good-looking, and one of the most
perfect fencers I ever got across. If he had
not been the latter mv father would not have

10 How I Became a Sportsmax.

kept him, as he, unlike his hopeful son, did
not much relish tumbling about.

Rapid, when I first recollect him, was then,
I believe, about twelve years old^ and had
been sold for three hundred guineas when in
his prime. He was a blood bay, with three
black legs and one white heel, and without
speck or blemish ; but how he came into
my father's possession I cannot say, though
probably through the well-known Smart, the
dealer of Cricklade, as my father got most
of his horses through him. I think I must
have been about twelve years old when my
dear kind old father used to take me out
on the old horse and give me lessons, he
walking by the side.

I was soon able to go out by myself, and
many were the jumps I had, larking the old
horse over the fences on the side of the road.
He was a perfect safety conveyance, and never
made a mistake ; but his rider did, for I well
recollect the first time I ever tried the jump-
ing business was over a nice little tempting-
looking rean (as they are called in Wiltshire
and Gloucestershire), or watercourse, on Box-
leigh Common. Now, this common was a

My First Poxy. 21

fine piece of short turf, as smooth as a lawn,
except near the watercourse, where in soft
places a few rushes grew. I had often tried
a sweet little canter on this piece of turf,
and one day, when I had duly accomplished
my usual canter, and being elated thereat, I
thought I would try a bit of a jump, and
trotted gaily up to the (what I was pleased
to fancy and call) brook. The old fellow
made a slight pause, which I had not antici-
pated, and over I shot on the other side.
I made a complete somersault, and landed on
my feet. No sooner was I there than he was
by my side ; he had had no idea of refusing,
but in my anxiety to get to the other side I
was a little too quick for him. I looked about
to see if anybody was looking, but I had the
performance all to myself. I had, however, to
lead him to the nearest farm-house to get put
on again ; however, I said nothing about it
when I got home, thinking perhaps that my
rides by myself might have had a sudden
check. This I think was about the only time
that I was ever clean thrown from a horse,
though I have had hundreds of falls (every
man who rides close to hounds must get more

22 How I Became a Sportsman.

or less). The celebrated Assheton Smith is
said to have had a fall in every field in
Leicestershire ; but I think I have had more
than my share, and some very bad ones.

I very soon got larking over all the likely-
looking places in and out of the road (and
unlikely ones too, for the matter of that),
became quite au fait at all kinds of jumps,
so much so that it began to get rather tame
work, and I longed for a fresh steed of some
kind or other ; and having heard of an extra-
ordinary donkey (it is a short step from the
sublime to the ridiculous), I got leave from
my father to borrow him, and arrangements
were made that I might have him for a few
weeks for his keep. I had heard wonderful
talk of this animal, who was said to be able
to do his forty miles a day. He belonged to
a carpenter, who used to ride him backwards
and forwards to his work ; and as he was
well kept and never ill-treated, he was sup-
posed to have lost his donkeyishness, and to
be quite free from stubbornness or vice.

I have often heard that donkeys are made
stubborn from the hard and cruel usage they
receive; I can verv well believe that it is

My First Pony. 23

developed and increased by such treatment, but
I think there is a natural stubbornness inherent
in donkey-nature, which no kindness can eradi-
cate ; at all events, my animal soon began to
show the old Adam which lay latent in his
system. On his arrival nothing would do
but I must try him at once, and having got
him duly equipped in one of my father's hunt-
ing saddles, which was a few sizes too large for
him, with a pair of small stirrups and leathers
from my own stores, and the girths knotted
up under his belly, — being without that about
eighteen inches too long, — and having armed
myself with a good straight cutting whip and
a pair of spurs, or rather, I should say, two
spurs, for they were odd ones, also from my
own stock-in-hand, I started — I beg the reader's
pardon, I should say I tried to start ; but not
one inch would the brute move. I tried two
or three vigorous cuts with the whip, for —

" I had a donkey that wouldn't go ; "

and they had no more effect than hitting a
bundle of hay. My patience would stand it
no longer : in went the spurs with a will. That
was a new sensation altogether to Mr. Ned.

24 How I Became a Sportsmax.

The effect was immediate : away he bolted,
but it was only for about fifteen or twenty
yards, for seeing the coach-house door open, in
he went, rubbing my knees most unpleasantly
against the carriage-wheels, and no persuasion
of mine, gentle or simple, would induce him
to move again.

All this time my father was watching the
operations over the blind of his study window,
holding his sides with laughing, and with
the tears streaming down his cheeks. He
declared afterwards, that the absurdity of the
whole performance so tickled his fancy, and he
burst into such uncontrollable laughter, that he
was quite powerless to come to my assistance,
or even to call for help. Fortunately, however,
one of the servants had also seen it, and sent
old Tom the groom, who soon lugged me off,
and took the animal back to the stable.

Tom said if I would wait till he had had his
" bit of nunch " (he had just come in from
delivering a note some five miles off for my
father, and on these occasions always had
some bread and meat, or cheese, and beer) he
would go with me, and see if he could not
make him go all right. Now this '' bit of

My First Pony. 25

nunch" usually took Tom just one hour by
the clock ; he ate very slowly, but kept on the
whole time munch, munch, munch, with his
mouth as full as he could cram. I promised I
would wait for him meantime. I need hardly
say my chagrin and disappointment were very
great, as I had, I believe, intended going as far
as Bristol, only about twenty-eight miles off,
by way of a trial trip. If I had succeeded
there is no knowing where my next excursion
w^ould have led me to ; as it was, I sat with
the spurs on and the whip in my hand, cogi-
tating as to what was to be the result of the
next move.

It was tiresome work waiting for Tom's hour,
and give it up as a bad job I could not; so
after a time I got my steed out into the garden,
and thought I would try a somewhat shorter
excursion, by riding him about the walks.
Accordingly, up I got again. It seemed to suit
my long-eared friend's notions better than
going to Bristol, for away he trotted at once,
and everything seemed to be going on as satis-
factorily as possible to both parties, when, in
an unlucky moment, some evil spirit tempted
me to give him a dig with the spurs. It is one

26 How I Became a Sportsman.

of those mistakes that human beings are con-
stantly committing — we cannot let well alone.
Before I could say Jack Robinson, up went his
heels, round went the big saddle, and I was on
the ground; and Neddy, I suppose, thinking
he could get rid of the spurs and his persecutor
at once, galloped off with all his might ; but,
unfortunately, one of my feet hung in the
stirrup, and I was dragged along the ground in
anything but a dignified, and certainly a most
uncomfortable and dangerous, position. He
trod on my body, he trod on my hand, he trod
on me everywhere ; one of his feet went into
my mouth, — at least, as much of it as would go
in, — cutting it severely, and the marks of which
I bear to this day. Of course in this predica-
ment I did not forget to halloa. My cries of
blue murder, or whatever they were, brought
out the cook and housemaid, the former of
whom, by making a sudden short cut across a
border, succeeded in stopping the beast. Tom
then came running out, with a knife in one
hand and bread and cheese in the other. I
was carried into the house with all the wind
knocked out of me, covered with blood and
bruises, and was soon undressed, washed, and

My First Poxy. 27

put to bed, with next morning a very fine
development of gravel-rash, and a very hand-
some swollen face. My teeth were so loose I
had to live on milk and sop for a week or so.

The next morning I was, as may very
naturally be inferred, extremely stiff and sore ;
and the first person to visit me was the
kind-hearted old cook, who entered my room
and said, " Mornin', master John, how be 'e
s'mornin', nice mornin' s'mornin', have a drop
of coffee." This was said all in one breath ;
but I was only too glad to have any one to
comfort and condole with me in my misfor-
tunes. Thus, then, ended my acquaintance with
this wonderfully quiet, good-tempered animal.
I had had enough of donkey to last me all
my life, such an impression (I might rather
say so many impressions) did it make on me.
After I had got over this little attack I was
glad enough to go back to, and confine my
attentions to, " old Rapid," and we got on very
comfortably together for some time.

One day on going out for a walk with my
father, he lifted me up to look over a fence
at a black pony in a field at the back of the
house belonging to a Dr. Beale ; and from

28 How I Became a Sportsman-.

that moment that black pony took complete
possession of my thoughts by day and my
dreams by night. I did not say much about
it when my father showed him to me ; but I
fully determined I would see him again, and
that very soon ; and as the field where he was
usually kept was only about three-quarters of
a mile out of my road on my way to school,
where the Rev. Dr. Carter daily endeavoured to
instil the rudiments of Latin and Greek into
me, I very soon made the proposed visit. The
Doctor was an ignorant, idle, and severe man,
and what he lacked in brains and assiduity he
made up in beating. He literally drove the
grammar into us by rule of thumb or cane
of thumb, for whenever we made the slightest
mistake we had to hold out our hands, and
have what we called " a spat." It was of no
use our drawing back our hands, which we
almost involuntarily did (it only made him
more savage), for in doing so we often caught
the tip of the cane on the tips of our fingers or
thumb, which was ten times worse than getting
it on the palm of the hand.

But I am getting off the line. Well, as I
was saying, the pony only lay about three-

My First Pony. 29

quarters of a mile or so out of my way, so I

used to start off as early as I could^ and take a

walk up to try and get a look at him. But

this was not always successful, as sometimes

he was out with the Doctor or in his stable, or

he might be at the other end of the field. I

had many fruitless walks ; but no matter, when

I did succeed I was amply repaid. But even

this sight of him was attended with some

difficulty ; the hedge round the field was too

thick and too high for me to see through or

over, and the gate leading to the field was

always kept locked. Now, this gate was so

constructed as not only to keep the pony in,

but to keep small boys out. It was when

first made, no doubt, an ordinary five-barred

gate ; but it had been so well braided across,

antl also with uprights pointed at the top, as

effectually to answer its twofold purpose, and

the few peepholes that were left were of such

narrow proportion as to afford but a very poor

view. However, there was one way of attaining

my object, which was by lying full-length on

the ground and looking underneath the gate.

I could get, if not a very comfortable, still

an uninterrupted view. When the pony was

30 How I Became a Sportsman.

anywhere near it was difficult to tear myself
away, and I was often late at school in conse-
quence, and caught it accordingly.

I sometimes sounded my father as to the
great desirability of my having a pony of my
own, no doubt with latent thoughts in my
mind as to this particular one ; but he, as I
thought at the time, turned a deaf ear to
anything of the kind. I made all sorts of
inquiries about the pony, and could gather
that he was a perfect wonder, and that the
Doctor used to frequently drive him to Bristol
and back in a day, which greatly inflamed
my desire to possess him. But I had not
the remotest idea how this was to be accom-
plished, or that it was so soon to be realized.

In the course of time the old Doctor was
gathered to his fathers ; and soon afterwards
his effects were advertised to be sold by
auction, and amongst them the veritable pony.
And when the day of sale arrived, I begged for
a half holiday to go and see the last of him.
My father said there was some rum about
forty years old included in the sale, and he was
going to see if he could buy it, and I might
go with him. It was a pleasurable and yet a

My First Poxy. 31

melancholy afternoon for me, for I spent the
whole time in looking, I thought for the last
time, at the object of my adoration. In due
time he was put up, and knocked down ; but I
in vain endeavoured to discover who was the
purchaser. I should have liked to have stayed
until his new owner took him away, but my
father caught sight of me and took me home,
much against my inclination.

The next morning after breakfast he sent
me out with some message to old Tom in the
stable, when outside, much to my astonishment
and delight, there was a small pony phaeton,
and in it a large hamper with the " old Jamaica."
I was not long rushing into the stable, and in
one of the stalls there stood " my pony." I
was tearing up to make a more intimate ac-
quaintance with him, when in an instant he
was up on end, with his fore feet in the manger,
looking as wild as a buck, showing the whites
of his eyes, and giving plain evidence of the
stuff that was in him, and that he was not used
to small boys. Old Tom and my father came
and coaxed him down, and after giving him
some small slices of carrot he got quiet and
reconciled to me and his new home. He was

D

32 How I Became a Sportsman.

about twelve and a half hands high, with a coat
as long as a billy-goat, cat-hammed or goose-
rumped, but with a small, thoroughbred-look-
ing head, which was quite grey from age, long
sloping shoulders, and with legs like iron bars,
as clean as the day he was foaled.

I begged hard of my father to let me have a
ride at once, but he was inexorable, and sent
me off to school (he might as well have let
me stop at home for all I learnt), but promised
he would take me out the next day, which
happened to be the Saturday half-holiday. He
duly fulfilled his promise, but, much to my
disgust, he took me out with a leading-rein, no
doubt having his own suspicions of what the
little rough-looking beggar might be up to.
I got him at last to unbuckle the leading-rein,
and we got on very well, with the exception of
his nearly pulling my arms off. All he wanted
to do was to go, and go he would, and did,
in which I was equally willing to accommodate
him. I found the pony, notwithstanding his
rough coat and unpromising appearance, in
good condition, as his late owner, no doubt
from constantly taking long journeys with him,
gave him plenty of corn. I very soon began

My First Pony. 33

to try his jumping powers. When he had
learnt I don't know, but he could jump like a
cat, and no fence that a pony could possibly
get over was too big for him ; he had a mighty
heart for a little one, and could breathe like the
trade winds. He was not a scrambling sort of
pony, but could gallop in good style, like a
little race-horse.

The hunting season was just commencing,
and having succeeded in getting a promise of a
day from my father, it occurred to me that his
long coat would be terribly in the way ; besides,
everybody had their horses clipped, and why
shouldn't I, as I wanted to turn out in proper
form ? So having enlisted the services of a
younger brother, we determined to clip him
ourselves ; and having collected all the combs,
scissors, and candles we could lay our hands
on, we waited quietly in our room until the
house was quiet. At night we got out, and
smuggled him into the kitchen (he had got so
used to us and so quiet that he would follow
us after a bit of bread anywhere about the
house, round the dining-room table, or, I be-
lieve, he would have gone up-stairs), and to
w^ork we went ; but we little thought what a

34

How I Became a Sportsman,

tough job we had set ourselves. The coat was
woolly and tough, the scissors were blunt, the
light was bad, our fingers got sore, and we
very soon heartily repented having begun our
undertaking ; but having made a beginning
(of course we did all the easy parts first), we
were bound to get his coat off somehow. We
did at last get some of it off, and it was
certainly somehow ; and when the cook came
down, long before it was daylight, great was
her consternation to see what we were at, and
what a mess we had made ; but, like a good-
natured soul as she was, set to work to help us,
and when daylight at length arrived, a pretty
figure the animal cut. We had not touched
his head or his legs, and where we had been
at work, in some places it was quite bare, and
in others there were large strips of snotched
hair, making him look something like a very
badly-prepared zebra. But we had to clear
out, as it was getting near breakfast-time ; so
we concluded that we would get old Tom to
finish him, after which he gave him a most
vigorous singeing, and he then looked some-
what more presentable.

My father tried to be very angry with us.

My First Pony. ^^

but the sight of the pony was too much for
him, and it ended in a hearty laugh ; and he
said, " As you have done him, you must make
the best of him ; but I cannot take you to the
meet with such a httle hedgehog as that." By
the way, he very seldom went to a meet, but
started late, relying on his knowledge of the
country and the general run of foxes, and con-
trived to pick them up.

The reader may guess I was not behind
time when the governor was ready, although
my get-up took some considerable time and
pains to accomplish : a pair of white duck
trowsers drawn over the ordinary ones, and
the two tucked into a pair of shining leather
gaiters, called antigropelos, the spurs of course,
and a natty new hunting-whip, the gift of
my mother, completed what I flattered myself
was a very correct and sportsmanlike costume.
M,y father (who always turned out exceedingly
neat himself), I thought, began to hesitate
whether he would take me at all, and having
compared the pony to a burnt cat, to which
I retorted that he would find he was better
than he looked, we started. I had strict
injunctions to keep with him if we fell in with

^6 How I Became a Sportsman.

the hounds, which after some time we did, in
full cry crossing" the road in front of us ; but
the keeping with him, as the sequel proved,
was easier said than done. But now, as Mr.
Somerville has it,

" 'Twas triumph all and joy,-"

for a very short time though, for, nolejis volenSj
I was soon carried to the front (it was not
quite my first appearance with hounds, for
I had had one or two little goes with the
old horse on the quiet).

Leaving my father and his injunctions far
behind, — indeed, I had too much to do to take
care of myself to be able to attend to them, —
we had a glorious run of what appeared to me
to be about ten miles (I believe it was really
about two) to a wood, into which I went helter
skelter. Some one hallooed out, " Hold hard !
hold hard, you little beggar on the pony !
hold hard ! " I held as hard as I possibly
could, but the deuce a bit could I stop. He
went all down the ride, which was very muddy,
as hard as he could lay his legs to the
ground. When we got to the end of the ride
he condescended to stop, I have no doubt

My First Poxy. 37

because the music of the hounds had suddenly
ceased.

I looked back, but could see no one, so I
looked outside, and instantly caught sight of a
man in green livery about three hundred yards
off on a grey horse, holding his cap high
in the air, and both he and his horse were as
still as if cut out in marble. I at first thought
he was holding up his cap for me to go up to
him, but as he looked straight to the front,
apparently intent on some object, I thought
better of it (and lucky for me I did). In
another instant he clapped on his cap, put his
finger to his ear, and gave a piercing scream,
with a rattling view halloa, " Tally ho ! gone
away!" In an instant the whole scene was
changed from grave to gay, from still to active
life; the whipper-in and his horse were all
action, life, and energy. The reader may see
ju§t such a picture as this presented, in Tores's
shop in Piccadilly at this moment, except
that the whip is clad in scarlet instead of
green.

In less time than it takes to write it, out
came the hounds, followed by the field, and
away they went again with a most melodious

38 How I Became a Sportsman.

cry, which appeared to have a maddening influ-
ence on my steed. He seemed to understand
all about it, for away he went again like the
very devil.

"D — n that Httle beggar, he's here again,"
I heard another man in green exclaim ; that
was the huntsman, the celebrated Bill Long,
then in the zenith of his fame. I don't know
exactly what I did or how I got there, but
after tearing across country for some time I
was close at hand, when there was a confused
heap of growling, snarling hounds a-top of
something in the corner of a field, into which
heap the first whip in green that I had seen on
the grey went, and soon emerged with the dead
fox. This was Charlie Long (nephew of the
huntsman), then perhaps the best first whip
and most promising huntsman in England.
(Years afterwards I followed him over the hog-
backed stile which gave him the fall that
caused his death.) The dead fox was then
denuded of his mask and brush, and his body
given to the hounds.

I was covered with mud from top to toe,
and so was the pony ; but I was rather glad of
that, for it hid his patches. My face was

My First Pony. 39

scratched, and the blood dripping down on my
once white ducks. I saw the huntsman talking
to my father and laughing.

"Come here, youngster," said the former.
''You are a plucked un', anyhow; but I
thought you were doing your best to spoil
our sport."

The whipper-in then daubed my face with
his bloody fingers and gave me the brush,
which I crammed into my pocket. I saw one
gentleman take out his watch and say to
another, "Just thirty-three minutes." Another
I heard say to a friend, looking at me as he
spoke, " A very brilliant thing." What a little
fool I was, I'll be hanged if I did not think
his alkision had some reference to me ; but on
asking the governor, he quickly undeceived me.

How^ever, I was now a fox-hunter duly
entered to fox-hounds, and that with perhaps
the finest pack in the world, for they were the
far-famed Badminton hounds. I soon after saw
my father taking what I thought was an oppor-
tunity of shaking hands with the whip ; but as
he touched his cap, and afterwards fumbled
his hand to his waistcoat pocket, I conclude
it was something more substantial. Not long

40 How I Became a Sportsman.

afterwards my father called me, and I went
home the proudest and happiest boy that day
in England. I should have liked to have stayed
for another run, but the governor had issued
his fiat, and I knew, by a very quiet but
determined look which he gave, he was not
to be disobeyed.

It would weary my readers if I recorded
all the runs I was in with this varmint little
beggar, the narrow escapes I had, the scram-
blings and tumblings I got, and the amount
of damson-pie that fell to my lot, during the
time I rode this really wonderful pony. Suffice
it to say, that I rode him, or, rather, he carried
?;?e, because he generally w^ent just where he
liked, for several years. He was never tired,
never fell down, seeming always to have a
leg to spare ; though come down on his nose
or knees he did very often, but he was so
quick, he w^as up again before he had time
to fall. He had the activity and cleverness of
a mountain-goat, could jump like an antelope,
and the courage of a thorough-bred horse.
As long as hounds w^ere running he was all
right, as he could then gallop to his heart's
content, though it took me all I knew to

My First Pony. 41

steer him clear of members of the field who
were hesitating at the fences or at dangerous
obstacles^ as go he would, no matter who or
what was in his way, " at it, over it, or in ; "
but when hounds were trotting from one covert
to another my chief difficulties began. It
seemed to make no sort of difference to him
whether hounds were running or not, the sight
of them moving along seemed to drive him
mad, and as long as they were in sight or
hearing, he wanted to keep on galloping; and
as the hounds went into a field at one gate,
I was obliged to go in with them and gallop
all round it, so as to emerge at the gate out
of it at the same time as they and the horse-
men did ; in doing which he was in such a
desperate hurry he generally managed either
to rub my knees against one of the posts
on either side of the gateway, or to knock
up against some one's horse, with the not
impossible chance of getting my brains kicked
out, or else running my thighs up somebody's
spur. If the gateway was particularly narrow,
and a great crush to get through, he always
contrived to get me in the thick of it. If
there was any opportunity of running over

42 How I Became a Sportsmax.

the hounds he would be sure to take advan-
tage, and I picked it up from the huntsmen
or whips in consequence. I recollect Bill Long
saying to me on one occasion, "There, get
along in front of the hounds and there stop,
and perhaps you two will be satisfied." Many
a time my arms became so numbed and tired
from pulling at him that I have put one of
the reins over my shoulder, and leant against
it, by which means I could pull his head
into his breast, and somewhat control his pace.
I was not hke the ordinary run of "'plum-
pudding boys," only out during the Christmas
holidays, when sportsmen endure such nui-
sances, knowing it is only for a time, and a
good many of course having boys of their
own ; but I was constantly out, and got liked
accordingly, though they could not help laugh-
ing at me for the scrapes I was constantly
getting into and the mischief I caused. How
he got over some of the fences I don't know,
but what he could not jump he would run
over or scramble over or through in some
seemingly impossible way, which I am utterly
unable to describe ; but get to the other side
somehow he would and did. Many a rough-

My First Pony. 43

and-tumble scramble he got ; but he managed
to save an actual fall, and the deeper the
ground the better it seemed to suit him.
We often hear, and it is really the case, that
nothing but a good one and in condition can
go through deep ground. I suppose from his
lightness and that of his rider he went above
it ; I can answer for it that no pains were taken
with his condition, and yet he was always ready
and fit, and the further he went the more it
seemed to bring out the gallant stuff that
was in him. I have since that time owned more
than a hundred horses, and amongst them
many clippers ; but I can safely say, that I
never had anything with half the speed (for
his size), the cleverness, endurance, and in-
domitable pluck that this poor old fellow had.
At length he began to fall off in condition,
could not feed well, and as I was getting
too heavy for him, besides I had been pro-
moted to a bigger, though not a better nag,
and my father did not care to let my younger
brothers ride him, the edict went forth that
the poor pony was to^ be shot ; he was much
too good a sort to be allowed to spin out a
lingering existence in any ignominious way.

44 How I Became a Sportsman.

A grave was dug, and the man who was to
carry out the sentence came for him, and
thinking to save his own legs, got upon his
back to ride him down, when the poor, worn-
out-looking old fellow immediately ran away
with him, to his extreme astonishment.

" Still Hved the ruling spirit strong in death,"
showing at the last a spice of his quality, and
dying, as he always had been, game to the
last.

It was not with an undimmed eye that I
went into the stable and took my last look
at " my first pony." Thus ended the career of
the very best animal that ever looked through
a bridle.

45

CHAPTER III.

A BLACK DIAMOND.

" Happy the man who, with unrivall'd speed, can pass his
fellows, and with pleasure view the struggling pack."

— SOMERVILLE.

As I believe I before stated, before the old
pony was put out of tlie way, I had been
promoted to another steed. This was one
altogether of a different stamp : he was a very
well-bred and good-looking black hack that my
father had seen going by one day, found out
where he was being taken to, and went over
and bought him. He was about fourteen
hands high, with a small thorough-bred-looking
head, light neck, and most perfect shoulders ;
but behind the saddle he was plain, for he had
wide ragged hips and a very ugly tail, which
was about as long and as stubby as a worn-
out besom. He was deep in the girth, had

46 How I Became a Sportsman.

excellent legs and feet, and looked all over
as he was — a most perfect, temperate boy's
hunter. I was very soon on his back and
tried his hand at jumping, and was delighted
with him, for I found him as clever and as
willing as old Rapid. This was the very
animal for me, for he was very fast though
very quiet, and had a capital mouth, and
required nothing more than a snaffle-bridle,
which I always rode him in.

Now, it was a great wonder that my hands
had not been completely spoilt by riding
such a little tearing devil as the old pony,
for though he was quiet enough in an ordinary
way, and did not pull so very hard, the moment
he saw or heard the hounds he seemed to
have no mouth to speak of, for I could make
no more impression on it than pulling at a
house. I say it is a wonder that my hands
had not been irretrievably ruined, but my
good old father, who had a capital seat and
hands himself, took great pains and care to
properly instruct me in both, and I had been
so well grounded by him in my lessons on
the old horse, that when I found myself
mounted on " Black Diamond," as he was

A Black Diamond. 47

called, I was quite at home, and we really
got on so well together, that when I went out
with the hounds, I, who had been looked upon
with horror, avoided, abused, and generally
wished at the devil, quite recovered my char-
acter for a time ; but, unfortunately, I got into
hot water again with one or two other animals,
particularly with a roan mare which I rode for
many seasons, and of which more hereafter.

I was formed by nature for a good seat on a
horse, and without a good. seat a man cannot
have good hands. If I could not have ridden
Black Diamond without getting into scrapes
it would have been, my own fault, and during
the two years I rode him, I thoroughly en-
joyed hunting, and had many capital days with
him. He was as fond of jumping as I was,
and-* the reader may depend upon it I was
nothing loth to indulge him in it. What
places I used to shove him at he would go at
them best pace and fly them, or he would
creep like a goat at any cramped place, and
would pop into and out of a narrow lane with
only a few yards between the fences as clever
as a cat.

It was quite a new and most delightful

48 How I Became a Sportsmax.

sensation not to be hauled about at the will
of a mad little beggar, who didn't care where
he went. I was now allowed to go out with
my father, w^ho seemed always pleased to see
me take my fences as they came, and like a
workman, as he said ; whereas after my first
appearance on the old pony, he took precious
good care never to go out with me, nor indeed
to go out on the same day, always, w^hen he
allow^ed me to go, sending me oiF to distant
fixtures, and keeping the near ones for himself.
I cannot call to mind that Black Diamond
ever gave me a fall, and if I am correct in
this, I believe it was the only time in my life
that I went so long a time without one. I
have since had three, four, and even five in a
day, but that was when I was riding young
and unmade horses, which I took a fancy
to do at one time, ay, and liked it too for
some years ; but after a long course of this
sort of thing I got tired of it, after having as
much knocking about as falls to the lot of
most men, and took to riding horses of good
figure and character, which had passed through
good hands, and were supposed to have seen
their best days ; but I found I could go along

A. Bla^ck Diamond. 49

as fast, and wherever others did, mounted upon
much more expensive animals.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
What I could do others can do, and I can
only say, that if I had my time over again, I
would leave the riding and making of young
horses to those who are paid for it, and ride
only ready-made, if even second-hand, horses.
But what one takes a pleasure in at one time
of life we think of with very different feelings
as time goes on, and I suppose it will be
always so.

There is an old saying, that a candid con-
fession is good for the soul, and I am going to
make one. I was never in my life very fond
of going best pace over rough ground ; I
mean w^hen your horse is thoroughly extended,
and going at all but racing pace. I verily
beheve that this really requires more nerve
than jumping the biggest fences. I have
known men who would hardly jump a sheep-
hurdle, and yet would go like steam across
ground covered with ant-hills, or even rabbit-
burrows, the most horrible traps you can find,
and which give the worst of falls, the most
imperial crowners. Again, I have known men

50 How I Became a Sportsman.

regular gluttons at fencing, and yet afraid to
extend their horses even where it is all plain
sailing, let alone ridge and furrow, which,
without good shoulders in the horse and good
handling on the part of his rider, takes a little
doing. The best plan I think is to let your
horse alone as much as possible. Half the
horses are pulled into making mistakes, rely
upon that. Not only the hand but the finger is
necessary at times, so fine must be the touch
or feel between the rider's hands and the
horse's mouth. Horses won't make mistakes
if they can help it, and the surest way is to
leave them to themselves ; but then it requires
great nerve and confidence. As a proof that a
horse will take the greatest care of himself
when not bustled or pulled about, you have
only to watch a huntsman going, we will say,
across a piece of ridge and furrow, with very
short and high ridges, or perhaps across a piece
of a covert which has been cut down recently,
leaving the sharp ends of the hazel bushes
sticking; some nine inches or a foot above
ground. The huntsman's cares and anxieties
are with his hounds, and he is so intently
watching them, that he is not looking at all

A Black Diamond. 51

to his horse, leaving him to take care of
himself, and yet how very seldom does he
make a mistake ; and then you must remember
that a huntsman's horse has to do a good deal
more work than that of any of the field, and of
course gets a good deal more taken out of him.
Also remember that wind is streng;th.

Well, I was not exactly afraid of giving
best pace across such ground as I have
described, because I rather fancy my nerves
were pretty good, and I never cared what the
fences were ; still I did not exactly enjoy it,
and always liked to feel my horse going well
collected, and within himself. Now I fancy
this dislike to going very fast over rough and
broken ground, or indeed at any time, comes
from having been carried nolens volens in such
a tearing, reckless fashion by the old pony ; in
fact, he used regularly to run away with me, so
that^is the whole and sole truth of the matter.

I knew one man with the most perfect seat
and hands imaginable; he always turned out in
faultless dress and appointments, he rode first-
rate horses, and to look at the tout ensemble,
you would have thought he was a first flight
man : but he could not go across country ; the

52 How I Became a Sportsman.

right stuff was wanting. I don't know where
his heart was, but it certainly was not in the
right place. I once saw him jump a gate
though, but it happened in this way : he went
up to a gate, and was reaching down to open it
but found it locked ; as he was just drawing
himself up, I suppose he must have touched
his horse with his long-necked spurs, for over
he popped in a moment ; but although taken
by surprise, the rider did not move from his
right place in the saddle, thus showing that his
seat was good and firm ; it only wanted better
nerve.

I knew another gentleman of a totally dif-
ferent stamp, who took a house in the country
where I then lived, brought down some good
horses, and began to hunt when he was nearly
sixty years of age. He had been a London
merchant for many years, and had just retired
with a considerable fortune. He had, I dare
say, learned to ride early in life, and must have
had a natural love of horses and hounds, but
circumstances had probably prevented his enter-
ing into the pleasures of the chase. When he
first commenced hunting, although he seemed
to sit his horse very well, he could not manage

A Black Diamond, 53

the fences at all ; but he was not afraid to go at
them, and he fell off constantly. He fell off
behind, he fell off in front, he fell off sideways,
in fact, he fell off in every way that it was
possible for him to accomplish ; at last he
seemed to get the better of it all at once, and
he kept on until he could ride as well as half
the people out, and from laughing at him
people began to respect and admire, for that
bit of thorough British pluck and determina-
tion which overcame his . neglected education
in horsemanship. His heart was in the right
place, and a real good hard one it was too, so
far as jumping went, for when he had once
mastered it he never seemed to care how big
the places were.

A vast number of people w^ho go out don't
care a fraction about the hounds so long as
they go fast enough. I was never one of this
sort, for though I was extremely fond of riding,
I loved to watch the working of the hounds,
and always took great interest even in what is
called a woodland day ; in fact, I rode to hunt,
and therefore I always preferred a good hunt-
ing run of an hour or an hour and a half at
a moderate or fair pace, to a twenty minutes

54 How I Became a Sportsmax.

burst at a racing one. I am pretty sure a great
many people will say I am old-fashioned in this.
Well, so I am, I confess, for I love the real
hunting part of the business, and as soon as
hounds began cub-hunting I was sure to be
there. Master and huntsman like very well to
see an interested follower of the craft out with
them at any time ; but they mutually hate a man
who comes out to heat or try a young horse
when they are entering their young hounds.
If you keep quiet, and sometimes you may
make yourself useful, they are glad to see you ;
but if you come out to show off, or for a
gallop, you may be wished a long way off.
How delightful it is to meet the hounds, say
at ^VQ o'clock of a lovely morning in Sep-
tember,— as Somerville says,

" What sluggard now
Would sink in beds of down," —

in such a delightful spot, for instance, as Swan
Grove in the Duke of Beaufort's country, or
Cirencester woods in the V. H. H. on such a
morning as this, with their beautiful elastic
green rides, and the music of perhaps sixty
couple of hounds to cheer your heart.

How often have I ridden ten, twelve, or

A Black Diamond. 55

fifteen miles to such a meet as this^ home to
breakfast with such an appetite as can only be
obtained by strong exercise in pure air, and
then gone for a long day's partridge-shooting.
For many years I always made it a practice to
go out cub hunting on the first of September,
if I knew where they were, and I generally had
the information sent me. It was a sort of
opening of two different seasons on one day ;
but was it not almost too much enjoyment at
once ? I have often thought that perhaps I
was burning the candle at both ends. Well,
it could not last for ever, and it is as well to get
as much enjoyment out of this life at the time
as one can, being always with the proviso, that
these enjoyments are pure and healthful. I feel
sure that to much of my present robust health
and^ activity, although threescore years have
come and gone since 1 first saw the light, I am
indebted to having taken as much exercise of
all kinds as I could get, and passed most of my
time in the open air. The poet Dryden says,

" The wise for cure on exercise depend ;
God never made his work for men to mend."

And I am quite convinced that exercise, com-
bined with moderate (if not absolutely spare)

^6 How I Became a Sportsmax.

living, to some constitutions, and attention to
the good things of this life, will enable a man
to pass the latter years of his life with more
pleasure to himself, with less trouble to others,
than falls to the lot of those who live a life of
ease and luxury. '^ At forty," says an old pro-
verb, " a man is either a fool or a physician."
Well, be your own physician, I say. If you
feel that you have put on flesh, and have got
beyond your normal weight, the calves of your
legs getting smaller, the waistcoat wanting a
reef let out, and a general feeling of disinclin-
ation to take long-continued or strong exercise,
why put on the muzzle at once, stop the supplies
in time, and put on the steam instead ; take as
much exercise as you can get, no matter of
what sort. The less you feel inclined for take
the more. Any young sportsman, just entering
on his career, who reads this and follows it,
who begins to get on in years and increase in
weight, will thank me when he gets old ; and
above all, I earnestly recommend to all young
sportsmen, to enable them really to enjoy the
sports of the field, to be abstemious, and to such
a one I can wish nothing worse than to have a
better mount than "Black Diamond."

57

CHAPTER IV.

MY FIRST OF SEPTEMBER.

"At sere September's early dawn,
As seasons still come round,
With his pointers in the stubble,
He was certain to be found."

Old English Gentleman.

Before I was twenty years of age I had
become my own master, through the much-
lamented death of my dear father ; and having,
as I have said, early developed most un-
dt!)ubted love for sport, and having had the
shooting over a nice little estate of about four
hundred acres, not very far from the town
where I then lived, offered to me, upon the
understanding that I should put a man to
look after it, and keep off trespassers, and,
in fact, preserve it, I was tempted to take
out my first certificate to kill game. I had
become a fair shot at snipe, rabbits, wood-

58 How I Became a Sportsman.

pigeons, moorhens, and an occasional wild
duck or widgeon, but I had as yet, of course,
not killed a head of game.

I had a gun by that excellent maker, John
Manton ; it was rather small in the bore^ six-
teen, but it was a very hard hitter, and only
required holding straight ; so what I did not
kill at fair distances, might be put down to the
fault of the shooter, and not of the gun.

There was a tall, active young fellow, who
earned a good bit of money at times at his
work as a sawyer, who I had found out under-
stood a good bit about game and shooting ; in
fact, he was a little bit of a poacher in a
harmless way, and always kept a good ferret
or two. I had had him out with me rabbiting
on several occasions, and fancied he was just
the man I wanted. Accordingly, I had made
arrangements with him to look over my
ground, which he was uncommonly pleased
and proud to do ; and I subsequently found
him an excellent and able coadjutor in shooting
and fishing.

There was, besides, another temptation to
me to commence shootmg in real earnest ;
there was, adjoining my ground, a large com-

My First of September. 59

mon called " King s Heath," containing about
one thousand acres of all arable land, upon
which a good many partridges bred. This land
had been given by King Athelstan to certain
freemen of the borough in return for the
assistance they had rendered him in his de-
fence against the Danes. Now this common
had in course of time become subdivided into
portions from one acre up to twelve ; so that
it was not worth while any one attempting to
preserve it for the sake of shooting, although,
as I have said, there were a good many birds
and a few hares bred there.

I believe some gentlemen did once agree
with the committee of management to give
them a price for the right of shooting for one
season. But it would not work, as every man,
if he chose, might claim the gam.e on his own
ground ; and so many of them had been in the
habit of knocking over whatever they could
come across, that the attempt was given up
once and for ever. As a proof that it was a
good breeding ground, a relative of my own,
an old captain in the navy, came there for
several years to get the shooting of the first few
days in September. He was an old-fashioned

6o How I Became a Sportsmax.

sort of fellow, very slow and deliberate, and one
of those poking shots who took a steady aim
at his birds by looking all down the barrel
of his gun. But he was very sure ; he made
a practice of never cocking his gun till the
birds were on the wing; and when his dogs
stood, he was in no hurry, but generally pulled
out his box and took a pinch of snufF. On
one occasion he killed twenty-four brace of
birds on this very ground ; but there were few
shooters in those days, the stubbles were knee-
deep, and the undergrowth of weeds and long
grass was abundant. He had a brace of good
old-fashioned, steady pointers ; birds were plen-
tiful, and he rarely missed a shot. He did not
shoot at wild birds, and if he did not feel sure
he would pull his gun down from his shoulder
and wait for a better opportunity.

This is not the style of shooting T like — the
slow, steady, and sure ; I would rather see a
man miss a shot now and then than be always
picking his shots. You should be measured
for your gun by a first-rate maker, and it
should fit you as a coat would made by
Poole. And then all you have got to do, if
your eye is correct and your nerves in good

My First of September. 6i

trim, is to look at your bird^ fling up your
gun, and if your eye and finger act in concert,
down he comes. A great deal has been written
lately in the columns of the sporting papers
about making allowances for the pace birds are
going, and for their flying in this direction or
that. T maintain that no amount of pen-and-
ink w^ork will teach this, and nothing but
actual practice and experience will suffice.
There are shooters and shooters, and it is not
every man who handles a . gun that makes a
first-rate shot, let his practice and experience
be what it may, simply because he is consti-
tutionally unfitted for it. I have known men
who could not shoot in company, but when
by themselves performed very creditably ; while
others would be the very reverse, the very fact
of some one looking on seeming to brace their
nerves.

I knew an old farmer who often used to go
out with his landlord and myself, and it was
by a rare chance that he ever hit anything ;
but he always used to fire at the same time
we did, and then swear that one or two of
the birds we had killed were his. One day
when we were out he w^ent off for a few

62 How I Became a Sportsmax.

minutes to help up a sheep which had got
on its back, and put his gun down against a
tree, and I took the opportunity of extracting
the shot. We said nothing when he came
back, but went on beating the ground. Pre-
sently the dogs stood ; we walked up to them,
and up got a splendid covey of birds about
thirty yards off. We fired all six barrels, and
down dropped four birds. Old F. said very
quietly, whilst he began to load, "Did you
kill, sir ? " addressing me. " Didn't you hear
me shoot ? " said I. " That's my bird on the
left," said old F. I said ''Oh, no; I killed
the two left birds, and the Squire the two
which fell to the right." " I'll swear, if ever
I killed a bird in my life, that's my bird."

We could stand it no longer, and burst
out into uncontrollable laughter. " Whatever
are you laughing at, sir, what are you laughing
at?" said old F., continuing to load with all
the coolness in the world, and looking very
pleased ; for I verily believe he thought he
had killed the bird. Old F. then began to
get serious, then red in the face, and although
I never saw him commit himself before his
landlord, before or since (he had a goodish

My First of September. 63

bit of Welsh blood in him, and was rather
peppery), he got into a passion, and began
to swear that he killed the bird. " By G — d,
sir ! that's my bird ; " and away he went and
picked it up. " That's my bird, sir, if ever I
shot a partridge in my life."

This only made matters worse ; the tears ran
down my cheeks. Poor F. stared with all his
might, but gradually cooled down, still holding
the bird out at arm's-length between his finger
and thumb, in a way I cannot describe, but
which he appeared to think was evidence of
his having killed it.

The squire rolled on the ground with a pain
in his side from laughing, and it w^as some
time before we could quiet ourselves down
sufficiently to tell him how we had served him.
There was no getting over it, for on his
appealing to the old keeper, he of course
confirmed it. It w^as rather a severe lesson,
but it cured him completely, for he never fired
at our birds again. Now, this man could give
a very fair account of his game when he was
by himself, but then he shot in something
like the same fashion as my old friend the
navy captain. The fact is, we were too quick

64 How I Became a Sportsman.

for him, and he somehow could not help
pulling his trigger, when our guns went off,
from sheer nervousness.

A gentleman I once shot with was just of
the other sort; he could not kill anything
when he was by himself. He was an agent
over a very large estate, the proprietor of
which lived abroad, and he had the entire
shooting. As I was staying in his neigh-
bourhood with a friend, whom he asked over
to kill a few birds (the invitation including
myself), as he had, he said, so very little time
he could not go out much himself; there
being plenty of birds, and sportsmen generally
like breaking fresh ground, we went, although
we left excellent shooting of our own. We
found him dawdling over a late breakfast, and
with his correspondence by his side ; against
the fire was his gun, put to air, I suppose. I
took it up to look at it,

"Be careful," said he, with an alarmed
expression ; " those are the finest locks in the
world. I had them taken out of a Joe
Manton gun and fitted to this one ; I am
very particular about my guns."

I at once concluded he was a crack shot,

My First of September. 6^

and we should have to do all we knew to hold
our own. Breakfast over, he kept dawdling
about, and did it with the utmost coolness, as
if shooting was the last thing he thought of.
At last we were off, and E — n, who was lame,
was mounted on a cob, with a man to carry
his gun. We had not got very far from the
house before old '^ Pluto," my friend's pointer,
came to a magnificent point, backed by the
other dog.

" Very good indeed," said E — n. *^ Go on, I
wdll wait a bit."

We walked quietly up, and bagged our two
brace in good form ; no tailoring or hunting
after winged birds. On we went, and had
capital sport ; but I missed two very easy
shots following, when E — n seemed to have
braced himself up to the mark, for on our
proceeding up to the dogs, on their coming to
a point, E — n said, "Hold on a minute," got
off his pony, and took his gun from the man,
examined the locks carefully, and then nodded
to us to go up. We walked in line, E — n in
the centre ; up got a magnificent covey, and
down came five birds. The Squire and E — n
had both killed their brace, but I had missed

66 How I Became a Sportsman.

my bird with the first barrel. E — n took it all
as if he was thoroughly used to do the same
thing, and as imperturbable as Charles Mat-
thews in ' Cool as a Cucumber,' mounted his
pony again. Not long afterwards he said, " I
have so much to do, I think I shall go in ;
you go on, and I hope you will have good
sport ; and, ' Martin,' take them over all the
best of the ground," and away he went.

When he departed, Martin the keeper smiled,
and told us his master would never have got off
his pony if I had not missed ; but would now
be in grand feather for a week, as he never saw
him do such a thing before. He said he very
seldom goes out by himself, and when he does
he never kills anything; but when he goes out
with other gentlemen, if he manages to knock
over a bird fairly he goes home. A wise man
too ; as any one seeing him perform, as we did,
would have said he was a crack shot.

We had a very good day, wound up with an
excellent dinner, finished by the best hare I
ever tasted ; and I will give my readers his
receipt for cooking one at the end of this
chapter. He made no allusion to his shooting,
not knowing the keeper had split, leaving us

J

My First of September. 67

to infer that it was a usual thing with him, and
that if he had not been so busy he would
have shown us the way to do the trick. Of
course we regretted he was not w4th us, as he
would have so greatly aided in filling the bag.

We shot remarkably well that day, barring
my three misses ; and I can scarcely ever re-
member having so few runners. Of all things I
hate tailoring my birds by breaking their legs,
or seeing them go away wounded ; I would
ten times rather miss them out and out. This
is the fault of shooting too low, and to guard
against this, it should be borne in mind that
nineteen times out of twenty a bird is rising as
he flies, except where you are above him, and
he is going down-hill. But I am forgetting
all about what I was saying, and going away
at score. Let us haste back at once.

Well, I had my ground and my man, whose
report of the prospects of what was on it,
considering that it had not been looked after
for some years, was very favourable. I knew
Isaac would not neglect his part, for his heart
was in it, and when that is the case you can
rely upon a thing being well done.

Now, the next thing was to look out for a

68 How I Became a Sportsman.

dog. I went round to all the keepers I knew,
but they had nothing to part with ; there were
no sporting advertising papers in those days,
except ' Bell's Life,' and that was not at that
time much of a sportsman's paper for getting
what I wanted. The time got on to near the
first of September, and I was still without a
dog, when I came across a sporting farmer,
who was not going to shoot that season, and
would sell his dog. I went to see it, and
found a good-looking, liver-coloured setter
bitch, but she was very fat. The farmer said
she would work all day, but this I doubted
very much. However, on his assurance that
she was a real good one, I bought her for a
five-pound note, then considered a fair price
for a sporting dog. I gave her as much work,
and got her as fit as I could, in the short time
I had ; but when the eventful day arrived she
still had a load of flesh on her.

The evening before the eventful day having
arrived, Isaac came up to take his last instruc-
tions, when I informed him I had a bit of
a surprise for him, and when I told him what
it was, he looked uncommonly chop-fallen for
a time ; but when I had argued it out with

My First of September. 69

him, he fell cheerfully into my views. I
thought that if he was away with me, any-
body who had been in the habit of taking
a sly cut in over my ground would take
adv^antage of his absence ; and I had accord-
ingly sent for old Ben — a cunning old fellow,
and a capital marker, who my old naval
friend used to take out with him. Old Ben
was the father of the young gentleman whom
I introduced in the first chapter, and up to
every move on the board.

*' Isaac," said I, " do you think your little
terrier would follow me ? "

" No, sir, I'm sure she wouldn't ; but if you
take her in a string she won't leave you after
the first shot is fired."

"Well," I said, " bring her up with you in
the morning, and call me at five o'clock."
(Dear me ! was it likely I should want any
calling ?)

Having over-night placed gun, boots, gaiters,
powder-horn, shot-belt (I believe it was reahy a
belt carrying about three pounds), caps, and
whistle all carefully laid out in my bed-room,
so that there should be no hurry or liunting
for anything in the morning, I retired ; but

yo How I Became a Sportsman.

not to sleep. Such a restless night as I had
has often been described, and such sleep as
I got was disturbed by visions of monster
coveys, impossible hares, and guns that I
could not get up to my shoulder.

I rose, I was going to say, with the lark, but
long ere that early songster had risen from his
simple couch on the bare earth I was up and
waiting for Ben and Isaac. As it began to
get light, they came, almost together, Isaac
bringing his white terrier. She was a handsome
little wiry-haired bitch, full of mischief; but
for a terrier, as well broken as ever I saw one.
She would work to the slightest sound of a
whistle, or the sign of her master's hand. I
believ^e she was one of the celebrated Jack
Russell's breed, as Isaac had brought her up
from Devonshire when she was a very small
pup when on a visit to a friend who lived near
the reverend sportsman ; at all events, she was
a good one, and worth a whole lane full of
the so-called fox-terriers so common at the
present day. Handsome enough they are many
of them, but — well, if their owners are satisfied
so am I. Venom was so useful that I bought
her of Isaac the next day, and kept her till

My First of September. 71

she was both blind and deaf. She had a won-
derful nose, and once put on the scent of
anything, it was as safe as if roasting before
your kitchen fire ; but you had to be pretty
quick upon her with hare or rabbit, or she
would soon tear it to pieces. Anything in the
shape of vermin she would never let go of
as long as there was life in it, and, as Dandie
Dinmont said, would tackle " anything with a
hairy skin on't." The poor old bitch got so
completely worn out that a friendly charge of
shot sent her, as the Indians say, to the " happy
hunting grounds," where, if her spirit still lives,
the rats and other vermin have but a sorry
time of it.

Now, let us go on to our ground, for I
am sure I have now gone off the track long
enough. Ben said we must make haste, for as
he came through the town he had seen old
Savage and his white setter just starting.
Savage was one of the largest landholders on
the common, having twelve acres; but of
course he went over the whole of it. He was
a very old man, much troubled with the rheu-
matics, but a fair shot of the long rail poking
stamp; but I don't think he troubled His

72 How I Became a Sportsmax.

Majesty's exchequer by paying duty for a
certificate. It was considered by the land-
holders on the common that they could all
kill game that chose, without it. I know, as a
fact, that they paid no taxes or poor's rates for
their land.

Having parted with Isaac at a point where
he had to turn off to go to our own ground,
though often taking a lingering and a longing
look behind him, Ben and I got to our ground.
It was rather a foggy morning, with a very
strong dew, and it was not very long before
I was wet through above the knees ; and as
we poked about for a long time without finding
anything, I almost began to wish I had not
commenced quite so early. I think it must
have been nearly an hour before " Doll," after
drawing some time across a piece of stubble,
stood firm, and on my walking up, there rose a
single bird, looking as big as a rook through
the fog. I polished him off, but he was a
poor, draggled-looking customer, from running
about in the dew ; but such as he was, an old
cock, he was my first partridge, and I was duly
pleased with him. On going on Doll soon
began to draw nigh, and at last came to a

My First of September. 73

point, when up got the old hen and a lot of
light brown looking half-grown birds. Poor
old cock, I believ^e he, Spartan-like, nobly sacri-
ficed himself to save his family. I flung up
my gun, but was in time to save pulling the
trigger, and very glad I was ; they pitched
close to a piece of standing corn, into which
they, I have no doubt, ran.

" Why didn't you shoot ? " said Ben, " that
old Savage will have every one of them if he
comes across them."

'' Well, let him," said I, " for I won't shoot
at squeakers."

" Old Savage will swear they are a sm.all
breed peculiar to the common," said Ben.

'' I hope he won't find them," said I ; "at all
events, they are safe for the present in that
piece of barley ; " it being a " Lex iion scripta "
well understood, that no one should go into
standing corn on the common. ,

On we went, but met with very little success.
Doll found and stood a good many times ;
but as there were very many patches of late
barley and beans still out, the birds found
shelter there, and we had to be very careful to
prevent Doll going into them^ as that was an

74 How I Became a Sportsmax.

offence in the eye of the commoners only
second to going in yourself. At length it
drew on towards breakfast-time (I had arranged
with old Tom to meet us at a certain point
with it at nine o'clock) ; but long before that
time had come, my stomach had been crying
out for it.

We were at the appointed spot before Tom,
having only bagged two brace of birds ; and I
was not over-pleased with the commencement
of my campaign, and made a mental resolution,
not to go out again in the early dew. The
birds are on their feed and unsettled, and you
get wet through and uncomfortable. There
were other miseries in store for us, but of that
mor^non.

At length we spied old Tom coming along,
and with him a young London friend of mine ;
and never was breakfast more acceptable or
better enjoyed.

After this was discussed, Tom having been
sent off with the remains and the birds (of
which he was as proud as if they had been
forty brace), and with instructions to meet us
at one o'clock with lunch, we made another
attempt, and had not gone very far before Doll

My First of September. 75

made a capital point in a piece of potatoes. I
hurried up, and instantly there rose a splendid
covey of birds, only a few yards from the dog's
nose. The whirring noise they made so close
to me unnerved me for the moment, and off
went both barrels without touching a feather.
I looked rather foolish, as I was anxious to
show off before my Londoner. However, Ben
marked them all down into a piece of standing
beans. Ben told me I had fired too quickly,
which I was well aware of; and I don't think I
was the first tyro by a good many who has
been startled (although expecting them) by the
sudden noise and whirr of a covey of partridges.

"Now," said Ben, "let us take up the setter
and put the little terrier," which he was leading
by a string, " into the beans ; she can't do
much harm, and if you take it steady you will
kill every one of them."

Down we went, and the little bitch had not
been in a minute before three birds rose, and
I killed a brace, right and left, in good form.
I was proceeding to load in a great hurry.
"Take it steady," said Ben ; but, for the life of
me, take it steady I could not, for the birds
kept rising in ones and twos, and by the time

76 How I Became a Sportsmax.

I was ready they were all gone but one, which
I hit very hard. " He'll tower," said Ben ;
and so he did, and fell, as they always do,
stone dead and on his back.

The birds were now well scattered. Ben
had marked them all down, and I ought to
have killed every one of them ; but the ex-
citement was a little too much for me ; and
I will make a clean breast of it, and admit
at once that I bungled most fearfully. I
crippled two birds, which we got with the
help of the terrier, who squeezed one of them
so hard as to expose what he had been having
for breakfast, and only killed one bird clean
and well. Doll behaved admirably, but was
beginning to show signs of her condition, or
rather, the want of it. She soon after began
to confine her pace to a trot, and ended by
coming to heel. '' Hold up, Doll," only suc-
ceeded in getting her to start off for a few
yards, when she came back again. She had
done her best, but Nature cried " Enough.
Take her up, Ben, and let her have a rest."
My London friend most good-naturedly offered
to lead her, and we determined to let the
terrier loose, and do the best we could with her.

My First of September. 77

The day had become \ery hot, and poor
Doll appeared to suffer very much from want
of water, and we could find none. My Lon-
doner said he thought the birds seemed very
easy to hit (they always do to a looker-on),
when I asked him to have a shot, but he
declined. Not long after, while he was walking
about leading the dog, quietly smoking his
pipe, and I dare say thinking there was not
much fun in partridge shooting, we saw him
standing with the dog making a point almost
between his legs, while he was frantically ges-
ticulating with his hat. I went up, when a
landrail rose from just under the dog's nose,
which I bagged ; indeed, I don't see how I
could have helped it, it flew so slow. My
friend was highly pleased, and I think the
bagging this time gave him more satisfaction
than all the rest. We then met Tom with the
luncheon, and were glad enough to have an
hour's rest ; and he, being one of the land-
holders of the common, knew where there was
a pond of water, so he was despatched for a
little, which greatly refreshed the poor dogs ;
and when we commenced work again Doll
went off very fresh, but she was foot-sore, and

78 How I Became a Sportsman.

had to give up. Her will was good enough, I
believe, but Tom having stopped to help take
home the game, I sent him off home with it
and Doll. I got six or seven more shots, and
killed four and a rabbit, but missed a hare most
scandalously, which jumped up from under
my feet. The sun was getting near the
horizon, and I, having had enough of it, will-
ingly adopted my old honest friend's rule, viz.
to leave off shooting before sunset, though
about that time birds very often come out of
their hiding-places after being driven about
from pillar to post, and I have known a great
many birds killed in a very short time ; but it
is most unsportsmanlike, as birds are wanting
to go on their feed. As it was I did not reach
home until nearly seven o'clock, having nearly
four miles to walk to finish up with, having
been out fourteen hours. Bag — seven brace
of birds, a landrail, and a rabbit. Not much
of a bag, and I dare say a good shot would
easily have doubled it ; but it was not so
very bad for a first attempt ; at all events,
on reflection, I was very well satisfied, as I
could not be expected to shoot like an old
hand at it.

My First of September.

79

When Isaac came up after dinner, he said
he was glad he had gone to our own ground,
as several people who had been in the habit of
taking a sly cut in there (not that the owner
allowed it, but farmers are generally so busy
at that time of year that they cannot pay
attention to such minor affairs), knowing I was
gone to the common, thought they w^ould be
all right. Isaac told me old Savage had been
obliged to give up on account of the heat and
his rheumatism, and had come home in the
middle of the day. I told Isaac to go down
and see if he could make an exchange with
the old fellow for his setter. He went, but
reported that he would not have my dog at
any price, his old Sancho (which was a bitch)
w^as worth a cart-load of such dogs ; but as he
was- afraid he should have to give it up alto-
gether, he w^ould sell his dog. But he would
not take a penny less than three pounds for
her. I dare say he thought it a large price.
I very quickly sent Isaac with the money, and
he brought the dog back with him, at which I
was much pleased, as I knew perfectly well that
it would in all probability confirm Mr. Savage
in his intention. Sancho (I retained the name)

8o How I Became a Sportsmax.

turned out a very useful animal, she had a
capital nose, and would stand as firm as a rock
as long as the birds stopped quiet ; but if they
attempted to move, in she went like a shot,
and if they were not very quickly on the wing
she would very often nail one. I kept her for
that season, but getting tired of her pot hunt-
ing propensities, and wanting something a little
better educated, I gave her away to my sister
as a house dog. She was a good-looking white
bitch, with a black patch over the eye, and was
long and low, very much the stamp of the
present Laverack Setter. I should have bred
from her if I had been certain of her breed,
but I did not know either her father or grand-
father; and I thought of Somerville's advice —

" Consider well
His lineage, what his fathers did of old,"

and consequently refrained from doing so. So
ended my first of September, and I need
scarcely say, that after the fatigues of a four-
teen hours' tramp I slept, notwithstanding the
excitement, the sleep of a most terribly tired
but very fairly satisfied young sportsman.

My First of September. 8i

RECIPE FOR COOKING A HARE.

First catch your hare, as Mrs. Glasse says, but don't
follow her advice further by skinning it, get some scalding
hot water and dip your hare in it several times, until you
find the fur will come off readily with the finger and
thumb, then paunch and stuff in the usual way. After being
trussed ready for the spit, get a small tin funnel with a
long neck and put down the throat (it will spoil the set
of the head for the table, but never mind that) ; when the
hare is about three parts done pour into the funnel a
glass of port wine, and if that is taken up by the stuffing,
another. The hare should of course be thoroughly well
dredged with flour and basted .with fresh butter and
milk. The jiuces of the hare are preserved, and it
will not be dry, as a hare cooked in the ordinary way
usually is.

82

CHAPTER V.

TWO BIG PIKE.

"Arcades ambo."

OxE morning in the beginning of October the
post brought me the following letter :

" Tarlt07i Park.
"Dear J—,

" I am going over to Siston Pond on Thursday
to fish for jack ; there are plenty of fish, and Abia has
caught a splendid lot of gudgeon and dace this afternoon
for bait, so come over early to breakfast, and bring your
old fisherman if you can, and I will drive you over. I
think we shall have a good day.

" Yours ever,

"W. H. E."

Accordingly, the early morning of that day,
which was rather foggy, found me in the dog-
cart with my rods and tackle, and old Robert,
my old fisherman, by my side. He was the
town postman, who had found some one to
take his delivery for the day. As Robert had

Two Big Pike. 83

only two deliveries a day, at eight o'clock in
the morning and four in the afternoon, he had
plenty of spare time to exercise his favourite
amusement of fishing. He was a tall, spare,
upright, keen-looking man, bordering on sixty
years of age, and as silent as the grave ; when he
did speak, it was usually in a sup pressed tone of
voice, a little above a whisper, as if he was afraid
even at that distance he might alarm the lish,
so much had it become his habit to use excess-
ive caution when dealing with the finny tribe.
Robert had two very desirable qualifications
for a fisherman — patience and perseverance.

Robert, although very fond of the rod, par-
ticularly delighted in set hooks and trimmers,
as he said, and truly too, they took all the
big fish, but it has a semi-poaching cut
about it to be exactly according to my taste ;
but with such a fresh-water shark as the
pike, I am not very particular as to how I kill
him. I noticed that Robert had put rather a
bulky-looking flask basket into the trap, and
though I knew pretty well what it contained,
I asked him what he had got there ? " Only
a few trimmers," said Robert. "I thought
perhaps if we did not get on well with the rods.

84 How I Became a Sportsman.

the squire might like to try a bit of hve bait-
ing." But I knew perfectly well that Robert
had set his heart upon these said trimmers
being the leading article.

Arrived at the lodge gates, which I found
already opened for me^ I quickly drove up the
fine old avenue^ and found the squire, as I
expected, all impatience, waiting for me at the
hall door.

" Come, Jack, make haste ! breakfast has
been waiting this half- hour, and we ought to
have started by this time." It was barely eight
o'clock then, but he was always very fidgety to
get off when there was any fishing or shooting
to be done. The ladies of the family were not
yet down, so we made short work of what old
Jorrocks calls a knife and fork breakfast, that
is to say, it was substantial. We were soon in
the squire's wagonette, with his keeper Abia
(corrupted into Bia, as he was always called) to
manage the punt. I was not sorry to see a good-
sized hamper, which seemed to require a goodish
bit of lifting, put in by the latter, and away we
started, having about eight miles to drive. I
offered the squire a cigar, which he declined,
but he pulled out, filled, and lighted a genuine

Two Big Pike. 85

Killarney nearly as black as a coal, while I
lighted my cigar (I was not equal to a pipe in
those days) as we were going comfortably along.
I may as well give the reader an introduction
to the squire. He was about forty-five years
of age, with a fine, healthy, fresh complexion,
such as only a man leading a regular life, and
spending most of his time in the open air, can
have; a very cheerful, handsome face, slightly
embrowned by the sun ; about four feet nine
in height, stoutly made, but not corpulent ;
altogether a good specimen of a country gen-
tleman, but wearing a moustache (which was
unusual at that time, except amongst military
men), which he wore by virtue of being a
major in the local troop of yeomanry cavalry ;
and he was uncommonly fond of telling the
foHowing story connected with it. His Ser-
jeant, when the troop met one day assembled
for drill, began exercising the men (previously
to the arrival of the serjeant-major) in the
sword exercise, and gave the following words
of command, which I give just as the words
are pronounced in the broad dialect : " When
I says draa, you bean't to draa; but when I
say soords, out vvi'un" (pronounced ween).

86 How I Became a Sportsmax.

He was one of a sort fast dying out, who
very rarely left home, except to visit his other
estates in another part of the country (where I
shot with him for many years afterwards) ; but
lived chiefly on his own flne property, paying
attention to the cultivation of his coverts and
timber, and such-like amusements incidental to
the life of a country gentleman.

Our characteristic anecdote of his is well
deserving of mention. He was often amongst
his men when they were at work, throwing or
cutting timber, quarrying, etc., or if any build-
ing was going on he was sure to be with them,
and as he was not an idle man, he as often as
not took a hatchet or hammer and helped in
the work. Now, the squire was devoted to
the gun and the fishing-rod, but was no
fox-hunter, indeed, he rarely ever got across
a horse ; but he preserved foxes most strictly,
and his coverts were generally a sure find.
On one occasion, the hounds having found
a fox in the home covert, the squire was
standing on the park wall watcliing them
going away when some would-be swell, in a
bit of pink, no doubt a stranger to the country,
seeing him wdth a woodman's axe on his

Two Big Pike. 87

shoulder, called out, "Whose place is this,
my good man ?" '' It belongs to your humble
servant, and if you like to go up to the house
I dare say you can get a glass of sherry."
The diminished swell mumbled some almost
unintelligible apology, and took himself off as
fast as he could go.

We duly arrived at the pond, and having
put up our horse at a neighbouring farm-
house, we carried our impedimenta down to
the boat-house and embarked. The fog had
cleared off, leaving one of those fine, still
days without much sun, what I call a brown-
looking day, we so frequently get in October
— the month I like best of any in the year.

The pond was about half-a-mile long, by
from two to three hundred yards wide, and
looked all over like pike-fishing. We did
not lose sight of the hamper, but took it
with us into the punt. The punt was a
very roomy one, which there was no fear of
upsetting, fiat-bottomed, and with very little
appreciable difference between the stem and
stern ; in fact, a regular fishing-punt. Bia is
told off to the anything but pleasing duty of
pulling her ; and after having prepared half-a-

88 How I Became a Sportsmax.

dozen good-sized dace on gorge hooks, we were
about to start, when I observed that Robert
had something on his mind, for he kept on
looking first at the squire and then at me, when
at last I said, " What is it, Robert ? out with it."
"Hadn't us better put out a few trimmers, sir r"
We could not help laughing, but it was said
in Robert's quietest and most insinuating tone,
and as we knew the owner of the pond wanted
to destroy the jack (as he was going to try
the experiment of stocking it with trout), we
could not resist, and let the old man have his
way. He used gudgeon for his trimmers, as
they were tougher, and Hved longer on the
hook, and, as he said, played better than the
dace — play, indeed ! it must be a very fine
game of play, impaled upon a hook with a
prospect of being immediately devoured alive.
In case any of my readers should not know
what a trimmer is, I may as well explain it.
The trimmer consists of a round piece of cork
about an inch thick and six inches in diameter;
a piece of wood about four inches long is put
through the centre ; the cork is usually painted
red on the under side and white on the top ;
a line of whip-cord from ten to fifteen yards is

Two Big Pike. 89

then wound round the projecting part of the
wood on the white side, leaving a yard to two
or three, according to the depth of the water,
and to your fancy as to how deep you will
fish, hanging loose ; the line is then fixed at
the point you wish by putting it into a slit
cut in the cork. To this end of the line is
fastened the piece of gimp or twisted wire with
double hooks, the poor fish which you use as
bait having been first made fast to it. This is
usually done by making a couple of slits in the
skin of its back near the fin, the slits being
about half an inch to an inch apart, according
to the size of the bait, and passing the gimp or
wire in at one slit and out at the other ; this is
of course done with the living bait. Poor little
wretch ! no wonder he makes constant and
frantic efforts to escape, or plays, as Robert
called it. I always disliked live baiting on
account of its cruelty, but it is very deadly ;
and, as Isaac Walton says, '' you should handle
your bait gently, and as if you loved him."

Having fixed your bait as quickly as pos-
sible, put it in the water (it has taken some
time to describe, but the whole operation can
be done in a few seconds) in the likeliest places

90 How I Became a Sportsmax.

you can find — deep water bordering on the
weeds for choice. You can see at a glance
whether a fish has taken or not, according as
your red or white signal is uppermost.

While Robert was setting up his trimmers,
and I sat on the bank, the squire took a turn
along it, and I very soon heard him singing
out. I ran up with the landing-net ; he had
a run, and after a time I put the net under
a pretty little fish of about three pounds.

By this time Robert was back with the
punt, and we moved off. We pulled up to the
further end of the pond, but here, after getting
one small fish of about two pounds (we should
have put him in again had not our orders been
to destroy, as he was not injured by the hooks),
we found the water shallow, and too many
weeds still standing, so we came back again
into deeper water, had a few casts, but got no
run, when we decided to go still lower down ;
we then came upon one of Robert's trimmers,
which had got some distance from where
he put it, showing the white flag of defeat.
Robert's eyes glistened, and we hauled into the
punt a very pretty fish of about four poun:ls,
and not being much injured, we put him into

Two Big Pike. 91

the well of the punt, which was three parts full
of water, and proceeded on our voyage ; when
all at once we heard a terrible splash and
commotion in the well, saw a flash of some-
thing shiny white, a flap on the seat, and it
was some seconds before we realized the fact
that Robert's fish was gone. There was a hole
about six inches square in the cover of the
well, through which the fish had jumped and
disappeared. Robert's face (always a long one)
assumed still longer proportions; he could not
believe his eyes ; he looked in the punt, he
looked in the water, but the fish was clean
gone and no mistake. Robert at length looked
up, and in a louder and more excited tone than
I ever heard him issue from his lips before,
exclaimed, " Hadn't us better go back and look
arter'n, sir." I said, " If it was a turnpike road
we might, but as it is about fourteen feet of water
instead, I do not fancy it will be of much use."
Robert lost his voice altogether, and entirely
collapsed for some time, but he was brought to
life again in this way. I had as yet caught
nothing; I had had one run, but the fish after
carrying the bait some distance left it. I was
lazily letting my bait sink to the bottom to

92 How T Became a Sportsman.

see how deep it was, when, as I was just
drawing it up again, I felt something; and
after carefully feeling it, with my finger and
thumb on the line as gently as if I was
handling a silk thread, but bearing that in
mind, still as firmly as I dared, I felt a most
decided tug and a shake. " By Jove, squire,
I've got him ! "

" Well done ! " says the squire, '' give him
time ; " and out comes his watch. " Give him
ten minutes." But before that time had ex-
pired, I found my captive steadily sailing away.
" All right now," says the squire, " he has
pouched it " (as it is called) " where he took
it. Strike him now ; '' and I struck him by
giving a smart upward turn of the wrist. He
shook his head, and took out about forty yards
of line ; but I kept a pretty firm pressure on
him, and grudged him every yard he took.
At length he made a turn, and came back
pretty close to us, w4ien I wound up as quickly
as I could ; he still kept close to the bottom,
and away he went again as vigorous as ever.
When he made the next turn he began to come
nearer the surface, and as he passed us about
fifteen yards ofi'^ we caught sight of him — a

Two Big Pike. 93

goodly fish, which we put at twenty pounds at
the least; he saw us too, and went below again,
but soon began to show symptoms of caving
in, and after about a quarter of an hour he
came alongside the boat. One short turn
more and he turned on his side, when Robert
very quickly put his finger and thumb into
the hollows of his eyes, and with one vigorous
heave hauled him into the boat; a smart rap
on his head, a strong quiver, a gasp or two,
a sort of straightening himself out, and he was
a dead fish. I was warmly congratulated on
my capture, and after duly admiring him, we
drank a libation of whiskey to the god of
fishes, and proceeded to work again.

Not very far from where I had first hooked
my fish the squire suddenly exclaimed, "Here
he is! I'm in him!" The fish immediately
made straight for a bed of water-lilies to pouch
the bait, but there was considerable danger of
his getting the line tangled in them, and we
were anxious accordingly. But when the
allotted ten minutes had expired the squire
struck. " By Jingo, he's on ; " and out he came
into the deep water, and straight under the
boat, before we had time to get out of the w^ay.

94 How I Became a Sportsman.

The squire had to let out plenty of slack, and
then get it up the other side of the punt, all
which time the squire was smoking his pipe
and shouting and hollowing at Bia to pull this
way, and then that, to back, to stop, to go, and
fifty other directions. At last the fish made
a turn, and bolted away for the water-lilies
again. " I shall lose him now," said the squire ;
" pull up to him, Bia." When we got up, sure
enough he had got the line well tangled in the
stems of the lilies. " Pull, Bia, back water, Bia ;
why the devil don't you do as I tell you ? " We
got the boat-hook to work, and pulled up the
roots, and were glad to find he was still on. He
was too well hooked to be able to get off by
such a manoeuvre ; that is the beauty of the
gorge, for the pike generally gets it so far down
his stomach that unless the tackle gives way
his doom is pretty certain.

In the excitement of this last business the
squire had taken his pipe out of his mouth
and clapped it into his pocket. This was the
pike's last effort, and he was very soon hauled
into the boat in the same way as the last ; lie
was about as big a fish, rather longer, but not
so deep. The squire was standing up in the

Two Big Pike. 95

boat, his face beaming with delight, and with
his hat off, mopping his face after the exertion
and excitement, when, sniff, "What is that
burning ? " sniff, " By Jove ! I'm on fire." The
smoke was coming out of his pocket. To whip
his coat off was the work of a moment. " Dip
it in the water," exclaimed some one, and dipped
it was. When he felt in the pocket he pulled
out his handkerchief full of holes, but the pipe
was gone. " Confound it," said the squire ; " I
wish the fish was at the bottom of the pond;
I wouldn't have lost that pipe for anything."
However, it was of no use grumbling ; he had
got the fish, and the pipe was gone.

We then decided to pull in to shore and
have our lunch, which we thought we had well
earned. On turning out the basket we found
a good-sized beef-steak pie, a very small cheese,
which one of the squire's tenants used to
make for him on purpose for shooting and
fishing luncheons, a good home-baked loaf,
half-a-dozen bottles of Bass', besides the bottle
of whiskey which we had already tapped.
Having done ample justice to the lunch, and
topped up with a glass of whiskey all round,
I lighted a cigar, and again offered the-squire

g6 How I Became a Sportsmax.

one, which this time he took, but with a very
disconsolate air, when a lucky thought struck
him. " Bia, go up to the farm and bring my
great-coat, this one is not very comfortable,
and see if you can find a pipe that has been
smoked."

Robert said he would go and examine his
trimmers.

"Robert," said I, "while you are out you
had better go and look after that jack."

Robert turned on his heel, looking terribly
disgusted. While they are gone on their
respective missions we, " Recusans sub tegmine
fagi^' enjoy our baccy, at least I did, for
although the squire said the cigar was a very
good one (I prided myself on their being a
particularly choice brand of Cabanas), he kept
on lamenting the loss of his pipe. We of
course had all the incidents of our two fish
over again, and buttered each other most
plentifully no doubt.

In due time Bia arrived with the coat and a
venerable churchwarden, which the squire
broke off to his liking, and having filled and
lighted, looked comparatively happy.

Robert then arrived with a pike of about six

Two Big Pike. 97

or seven pounds, and a splendid perch of over
two pounds. We hung the squire's jacket
out to dry and got aboard again. We had a
very fine afternoon, bringing to book five more
fish, the biggest of which, however, did not
make more than seven pounds, and with two
more on the trim.mers, wound up the day. On
getting to the farm we weighed our fish, which
amounted to nearly ninety pounds, my fish
turning the scale at eighteen and a half pounds,
and the squire's not quite eighteen ; and having
left a due share with the farmer, for whoever
cared to eat them (I don't ; they are dry and
insipid to my fancy ; the only jack I ever
caught worth eating were in Windermere),
we packed up our traps and departed, highly
delighted with ourselves and our day.

JN"ot long afterwards the pond was emptied,
and we went over with our nets when the water
was about half out, and the fish had all got
down into deep water, and a glorious catch
we had of pike, perch, tench, and carp. One of
the latter, which I pulled out with an eel spear,
weighed over fifteen pounds ; and we took lots
of large tench home alive to stock our own
waters. Mine I never saw again, as they were

98 How I Became a Sportsmax.

carried down by the stream the first flood that
came.

The pond was duly emptied, and the mud
dug out to a considerable depth, when they
thought they had effectually cleared it of the
jack. The pond was left dry for some time,
the small stream by which it was fed being
turned in another direction, and when it was
allowed to fill again, a great many young trout
were turned in ; but I am sorry to say that
in a few years the jack appeared again (how
or in what manner I must leave others more
learned in the matter to determine, I only state
the fact), and with them the trout disappeared :
thus showing how difficult it is to convert
water natural to the pike into a trout lake.

Having safely arrived at the park, and made
an equal division of the spoil, we drank an
extra glass of the old Highland malt (whilst
my trap was being got ready), and success to
our next attack on the pike. The best friends
must part, and I succeeded in getting out
without a second edition of the old Highland.
" Good night, squire ; " '' good night, Jack ; "
and up I got. Poor Robert's turn for being
chaffed about his fish was not yet done.

Two Big Pike. 99

" Robert," says the squire.

" Yes, sir."

" The next time you put a fish in the well
mind and put a trimmer over the hole."

Robert was quiet for a moment.

" Good night, sir. I hope the next time you
get your fish in the weeds you won't put your
lighted pipe in your pocket." One for Robert.

Away we went, but had not gone many
yards before I heard the squire singing out,
and pulled up.

" Come over to-morrow, and we will try the
outlying spinneys and hedgerows for a pheasant
or two, and stay to dinner."

" All right, ril come."

As I dri\'e home I say to Robert, " Would
you rather have a crown or the big fish ? "

^' You don't mean to part with the fish, sir ? "

" I am not going to keep it."

^" Well, if that is the case, I'll have the fish,
and proud my missus will be of him."

I dare say Robert reckoned it as eighteen
pounds of fish, at, say, fourpence a pound,
that is six shillings. I reckoned him at about
sixpence, so I went to bed congratulating
myself that I had pleased Robert, got rid of

100 How I Became a Sportsman.

a thing I did not want (what is called a
British compliment), and saved my five shil-
lings. As Robert was walking off with his
fish, which he did by putting a piece of cord
through one jaw and carrying it over his back,
not a little proud of his burthen, I suggested
to him that it would be as well to make sure
of him and put one of the trimmers into his
mouth.

" You may depend upon it, sir," said Robert,
" no jack will ever get away from me like that
again."

I need scarcely add, I w^ent over to the
park the next morning, and a very pleasant day
we had — one amongst the very many w^hich I
had with one of the best shots and most
genial companions it has been my lot to meet.
Alas ! he was some years since gathered to his
fathers, and as I think of the past I heave a
deep sigh, and exclaim wdth the poet,

" Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still."

Requiescat in pace.

lOI

CHAPTER VI.

MY FIRST WOODCOCK.

"About forty years ago,
The sad time I well remember,
'Twas on a drear and murky night
In the dark month of November." — Old Song.

Ox such a night as the above, in the year
184 — , a friend and I started off to drive to
Gloucester, in order to catch a mail coach
which started from there for South Wales
very early in the morning. We had seen an
advertisement in the '^ Times/ addressed to
"sportsmen and lovers of wild shooting,"
in which the proprietor of a certain hotel,
not one hundred miles from Builth, offered
shooting (free to persons staying at his hotel)
over a large extent of rough, wild country,
having a sprinkling of game of all kinds,
including plenty of snipe and woodcock. I

102 How I Became a Sportsman.

had killed a fair lot of snipe, but never a
woodcock, indeed, I do not think I had ever
seen one on the wing ; but I had often longed
for a shot at that glorious bird, and my
ambition was fired by the advertisem.ent in
question; and having made due inquiries by
letter, a very tempting programme was held
out to us, and away we went. My friend
Fisher was only a few years older than myself,
equally fond of the gun ; but he had also never
killed a cock. We took down with us a brace
of spaniels, one was a liver and white mottled
bitch called Fan, a very steady, hard-working
animal, the other was a black and tan dog
of very large size, as big and heavy as a
Clumber (one of a breed then celebrated at
Berkeley Castle) ; but from that time to this I
have never seen the like of him. He was an
extremely handsome dog, and would have made
a little fortune on the show bench, now dog
shows are so much in vogue.

I think it was about five o'clock in the
morning when we left Gloucester, and were
the only passengers on the outside of the
coach ; it was a beastly foggy morning, with
a most uncomfortable drizzle falling. The

My First Woodcock. 103

guard's bugle, however, was cheery as we
passed through the different villages and small
towns, but both he and the coachman were
far from agreeable ; whether it was too early
in the morning to begin to talk, or whether
they thought two such young fellows were
not good for much in the way of tipping, or
of "a drain," I don't know, but they seemed
to treat us with silent contempt. It is a very
different thing travelling with such sporting
paraphernalia as w^e had, in these days, when
I know from experience that the possession of
a gun, a fishing-rod, or a dog is a sure passport
to the civihty and attention of railway guards
and porters.

There was nothing worthy of note, except
the very speedy changing of horses at the dif-
ferent stages (I always fancy it must have been
a point of honour amongst the helpers as to
wjio could put to the quickest), until we got
to Monmouth, w^hen the guard announced
that half-an-hour was allowed for breakfast ;
and very glad we w^ere to take off our great-
coats and get before a roaring fire. The
breakfast things were on the table, with part of
a ham and a cold fowl, but relying on the

104 How I Became a Sportsman.

assurance of the waiter, that there was some-
thing hot coming, we continued to warm our-
selves ; but as it did not make its appearance
very speedily, we rang the bell and inquired, and
were met by the waiter s " Coming directly, sir."

Another ten minutes went by, when we
rung again. After a time the something hot
made its appearance in the shape of a tea-pot,
but the tea was so scalding hot we could not
drink it; at that moment the guard put his
head into the room, and said the coach was
ready. We rang violently for the waiter, who
was some time making his appearance, and
when he did it was without the something hot,
but with " Coming directly, sir."

The guard again put in his head with the
positive assurance that the coach '''can't wait
any longer."

Waiter again with the bill — " tvvo-and-six-
pence each for breakfast."

We stormed and raved, but it was of no
use, and we had to pay for a cup of scalding
water. I whispered to my friend, and he col-
lared a loaf and I the cold fowl, and in spite
of the remonstrances of the waiter we carried
it off, and ultimately devoured it on the top

My First Woodcock. 105

of the coach ; it was rather dry and without salt,
but we enjoyed it nevertheless, and only regretted
we had not carried off the ham as well.

The coach passed within fourteen miles of
our destination, and we hired an old shandy
dan, called a fly, to take us on. We arrived at
last, and found a very large old inn, about hali
furnished, but the room we were ushered into
looked comfortable enough, barring a freshly-
lighted fire and a rather smoky fire-place ;
however, we ordered our dinner, anticipating
which they had got ready a small leg of
Welsh mutton, to which I need scarcely say
we did ample justice. The fire by this time
had burnt brightly up, so we hauled up a large
old-fashioned sofa in front of the fire and
made ourselves comfortable; and having ordered
a bottle of port, we asked the landlord to join
us, and to talk over the prospect of sport for
the morrow. He was a decent, genial sort of
fellow, and entered heart and soul into our
plans and our port.

" Anybody else staying here ? " I inquired.

" Well, yes, there is a gentleman from Bath,
who comes every year."

My spirits went down to zero. No doubt

io6 How I Became a Sportsman.

he had been all over the ground, killed all
the cocks, and had the cream of the thing,
and so expressed myself.

" You need not take much trouble about
him," said the landlord ; " he is rather a feeble
old gentleman, does not go out till late in the
day, and if he can kill a snipe he is perfectly
satisfied ; he dines upon it, and his dog has the
bones."

This I thought was a crammer, as sporting
dogs will not as a rule eat snipe or woodcock
bones, or, except very rarely, bones of game
at all. But when I saw the gentleman and
his dog the next day, they were so lean I
might well have believed it. Fisher then
inquired who could go with us to show us
the ground and carry the bag ; he said as he
was not busy he would, if agreeable, himself
accompany us on the morrow, and that there
was a man in the village named Lewis, a capital
beater, who knew the ground thoroughly, and
who always went out with gentlemen who came
for the shooting.

" The very thing ! send for Lewis at once ; "
which he accordingly did.

When Lewis made his appearance, I thought

My First Woodcock. 107

a more unlikely-looking customer for the job
I never saw. In height he was about five feet
nine, thin, with high cheek-bones and small
mutton-chop whiskers ; his dress consisted of
a blue tail-coat with brass buttons, shortish
trousers, low shoes, and dark grey or black
stockings ; and all the time I knew Lewis I
never saw him in any other costume. Come
home as late at night as we might, and
drenched to the skin, there was Lewis the next
morning clean and fresh . in the very same
garments. He was a tailor by trade, but dearly
loved sport, and whenever he could get a
chance to go out as beater the tailoring might
go to old Nick. Lewis said he could show us
plenty of cocks, and having arranged terms
with him, we gave him a parting glass and
distnissed him for the night, arranging to
start by nine o'clock the following morning.
We were greatly impressed with Lewis's report
and confidence, and went to bed to dream of
woodcocks accordingly.

We were up early enough, the reader may
rely, made a good breakfast, and sallied forth ;
but what was our surprise to find two stout
hill ponies in charge of a boy, a brace of

io8 How I Became a Sportsman.

rough Welsh greyhounds, a goodish-looking
blue ticked setter, and our two spaniels. I
had forgotten to say that directly we got
there a small, nondescript-looking little dog
came into the room and at once made friends
with us, and never left us all the time we
were there. It was nearly white, covered with
small crisp curls, in shape and appearance
like a very small hound, in fact, it was a
cross between a French poodle and a French
basset hound — a rum-looking object to go out
shooting with, but I never saw a better little
dog ; his nose was wonderful, and he was a
most indefatigable worker ; but he used to get
so thoroughly done up that we had frequently
to carry him home, where, after being fed, he
would curl up on the sofa and remain there all
night ; but he was ready again the next morn-
ing. There is nothing like fire for a spaniel,
or indeed any dog, after a hard day's work in
the wet. I have always adopted this plan with
my spaniels, and have found the benefit of it.

It is time I returned to the front of the
house. I protested strongly against taking the
greyhounds, it looked so unsportsmanlike and
pot-hunting. Whoever heard of guns and

My First Woodcock. 109

greyhounds together! But it was explained to
me that, as we had to go over the mountain to
get to our ground, we might very likely get a
course or two on our road, and that the grey-
hounds might then come back with the boy
and ponies. We then consented, and away we
started for Cwm Dwr.

On our road we had three courses, the httle
dark Welsh horses going up-hill like the wind.
However, the dogs were good, and we suc-
ceeded in killing a brace, which we sent back
by the boy, and ordered one to be cooked for
dinner. We then set to work after the cock,
Lewis diving into every hole and corner, and
poking away with a short thick stick he always
carried, and with his cheery cry of Hi cock,
cock, cock, or, as he pronounced it, co. We
wefe beating a thick piece of fir plantation, when
all at once the little Frenchman gave tongue.

I heard a flap of a wing (how well-known to
me now is that never-to-be-mistaken peculiar
flap which a woodcock .always makes on rising
from the ground). Lewis sung out, "Mark
cock." I saw something brown through the fir-
trees and instantly let drive, when down it came.

"Well done! "said Lewis, " a regular cock

no How I Became a Sportsman.

shot;" but I am quite sure it was more by
accident than design, or more by good luck
than anything else.

I ran up, and there, as dead as a stone, was
my first " cock," and a grand bird he was, being
the biggest I have ever seen. We did not weigh
him for several days after, when he turned the
scale at seventeen ounces, which I fancy is
a very unusual weight. I have since killed
hundreds of couples, and never approached the
wei2;ht of this bird.

Not long afterwards, in passing through a
small plantation of tall, scrubby old firs, we
caught sight of a brown bird sailing away
at some distance ; somebody sang out, " Mark
cock," but it pitched in a tree. We went up,
and Fisher knocked it down ; it was a brown
owl.

This reminds me of an anecdote of another
owl. When I was shooting in that first-rate
sporting county, Shropshire, some years after-
wards, a boy named Bill Price came up from
his work one evening and said to the farmer,
at whose house I was staying, in a great state
of excitement, ''Maister! maister ! I bin and
marked down a woodcock, and he's pitched in a

My First Woodcock. hi

tree, and ha got afeace like a caat." The story
got abroad, and the boy got well chaffed for
it ; and whenever an owl is seen in those parts
they call it "Bill Price's woodcock."

There is another original story of an owl,
which is too good to be lost ; but this is not a
Shropshire, it is one of a Wiltshire moonraker
this time. A boy coming home from crow-
keeping one evening, witli his gun over his
shoulder, just when it was getting dusk, saw
something sitting on a gate-post. After looking
at it for some time, he saw it move, and made
it out to be a bird of some kind, so he let
drive, and down it tumbled. He ran up to
pick up his prize, but recoiled in horror when
he saw some unknown creature lying on its
back, making frightful gasps, and feebly strug-
gling with its hairy claws. Away he ran home
with all his might, almost tumbling down with
fear. " Father, do go up and see what 'tis at old
Robin s gate ; I believe I bin and shot a
cherubim." His father, after some hesitation,
and rather in fear and trembling, went and
brought home the dead body of a white owl.

One other owl story and I have done, or I
fancy my readers will be bowling at me. I got

112 How I Became a Sportsman.

an owl scare myself once. I was staying with
a party of friends at the very farm-house men-
tioned above, but my sleeping quarters were at
another farm-house, about a mile and a half
off; and one evening, having prolonged our
usual game at whist until a later hour than
usual, I took up my stick and started. It was
a very dark night, and after I had blundered
across a large field as well as I could (for-
tunately I knew every inch of the road), I
was just opening a gate to enter into a narrow
lane called the Holloway, being cut out of the
sandstone rock, when a frightful hissing saluted
my ears. I knew that my friends were too
comfortably settled to come out and play me
any practical joke, even if they had had time
to get there. What could it be ? I stood
perfectly quiet, and the sounds ceased ; the
moment I moved they began again, worse than
ever. Could I have got into a nest of snakes r
I am not a nervous man, in fact, I flatter
myself those delicate members are about as
strong as most people's ; but if anybody's hair
stood on end mine did. After debating some
time, I could not make it out and went on.
There was a foot-plank over a watercourse to

My First Woodcock. 113

cross in taking a short cut, which I usually
did^ and there I met old John the keeper,
xvho had come out to look for me, fearing
something had happened, as I was long after
my usual time. On mentioning my fright to
him he could not help laughing, and told me
there was a nest'of young owls in an old pollard
oak to which the gate was hung. I fancy, from
the noise they made, father, mother, and
children must have all joined in resisting my
untimely visit to the vicinity of their mansion.
I have made a long digression, and it is
quite time I got back to our cock-shooting.
Lewis seemed to know intuitively where to find
them, and beat his ground thoroughly. He
never spared himself, and poked his stick into
every hole and corner. There is nothing like
beating every inch of your ground, as cocks
will lie very close at times, whilst at others
th^ey are off at the first alarm. I recollect
Lewis saying he felt certain there must be
a cock lying in one most difficult place to get
at. It was under a kind of waterfall sur-
rounded by holly bushes ; we shouted and beat
the bushes all round, but nothing came of it.
Lewis was not to be beaten, and after great

114 How I Became a Sportsmax.

difficulty got into the place, when he was
rewarded by instantly flushing a brace of cocks,
one of which we got, and marked the other down
into a small dingle about one hundred yards off.
We were soon after him, when up got three
cocks all at once. Fisher killed one, and I got
a shot right and left. My first bird went away
hard hit, and we soon after picked him up ; the
second I missed clean. I fancied I saw some
feathers fly, but on going up to the spot, found
that I had cut off a branch of a young tree,
which no doubt prevented the shot taking effect.
As an instance of close lying of the wood-
cock at times, I will relate an occurrence which
happened in my early experience. I was
trying a small covert for woodcock with a
brace of very small young spaniels that I was
breaking, and of which I am particularly fond,
as when you get them broken, how much
better they work for you than any one else,
and how much more pleasure there is in
shooting over them, when one of them
found something in a small, bushy piece of
thorns and long grass, about two yards in
diameter. After some considerable time the
little fellow put out a rabbit, which I bowled

My First Woodcock. 115

over ; he then came back again to the bush
and gave tokens that there was something else
there^ but he did not know how to get it out.
After kicking and beating about the bush for
some time I got a stick and poked into it,
when out came a cock, which I killed.

We then went off to a snipe-bog, but only
found a few birds in it. However, we got a
leash, and marked down four teal, which came
from no one knew where, they went by us at
such a pace ; and we were .not ready for them,
so that we did not get a shot. But teal have
a convenient habit of not going very far, so
having walked up to the place where we had
marked them down, they got up rather wild ;
but we got a brace, and after marking the
others down several times, and putting them up
without getting a shot, the ground we were on
being very difficult walking, as we had to jump
frpm tussock to tussock to avoid being bogged ;
but I suppose they got tired, for at last they
lay like stones, and we managed to overhaul
them both. A principle I have always adopted
is, when I have once flushed game, to follow
it up as long as there is a chance to account
for it, instead of beating for fresh game.

ii6 How I Became a Sportsman.

We then went back to our cock-shooting,
and found lots of birds, but missed them
frightfully, only killing one out of seven or
eieht shots. It then came on to rain in such
torrents that we were soon drenched to the
skin ; everything got so soaked that our guns
would not go off — we had muzzle-loaders in
those days. I shot with a gun by Lang, and
my friend one by Westley Richards, and ex-
cellent guns they of course were ; but such
torrents as we had no muzzle-loader was proof
against, though I have never found a breach-
loader to miss fire from that cause.

The day was getting on, and we had nearly
six miles to walk ; and having taken a drop all
round of a private whiskey still, which Davies
the landlord had kept in reserve, and well it
went surely, we counted our bag: three couple
of cocks, two couple of snipe, four teal, several
rabbits, the two hares which we had sent
home, and the owl. We made the best of our
way back ; but it was almost night when we got
there, and were delighted to find comfortable
fires in our bed-rooms, and foot-pans with hot
water for our feet, which was highly necessary
after the boggy ground we had been in.

My First Woodcock. 117

Having seen the dogs put into some clean
straw, we told Lewis to come up and have his
dinner ; but he said he would rather have a bit
of something and go home for good than come
up afterwards. I rather fancy, after having his
supper the poor fellow had to go to bed for his
wife to get his clothes ready for the next day.

We made ourselves extremely comfortable
that evening. It is certainly almost worth
while getting wet to enjoy the luxury of a dry
suit of tweed or flannel ; and if we did not
enjoy our coursed hare that evening may I
never see another.

After dinner we had in our spaniels, and of
course talked over the events of the dav, and
could not but come to the conclusion that, with
fair shooting, we ought at least to have killed
double the number of cocks, as we had seen
more than twenty ; but then the reader must
remember that w^e were only young hands at
it, and that we were in consequence not over
steady. But even taking old and experienced
sportsmen, you will find that more woodcocks
are missed than any other description of game,
the reason being, that people are always in such
a hurry, and so anxious, directly the cry of

ii8 How I Became a Sportsmax.

"mark cock" is heard, that they do not give
themselves time ; for the woodcock is, after all,
very often anything but a difficult bird to kill
though it is true he is a very erratic bird in his
flight, sometimes sailing along like a veritable
owl, at another you just catch a glimpse of
him, and he has put some bush or tree between
you and him like lightning; or sometimes, when
he appears to have made up his mind to go at
least a mile, he drops suddenly down in some
most unlikely spot.

A good marker in woodcock shooting is
everything, and he must not conclude be-
cause he saw him very near the ground up to
a certain point, that there, or thereabouts,
you will find him ; for very often when he
appears to drop he just gives his wing a flap
and goes off to the right or left, or very often
turns back, so as to deceive any but an ex-
perienced marker.

I have always made it a rule when cock-
shooting in covert, when you cannot make out
birds which you fancy you have marked down
and cannot find, to go myself outside the
covert and beat the ditch outside, and send
some to do the same inside the covert, by

My First Woodcock. 119

which means I have bagged scores of birds,
which in all probability we should never have
seen again, for the woodcock is here to-day
and gone to-morrow. I fancy some of my
readers exclaiming, " Do tell me where this
'El dorado' is to be found;" but they must
wait till they hear the end.

The next morning we devoted to snipe, there
being some very good ground close to the
house, and had a very pretty morning. We
could manage to kill these delicious little birds,
and succeeded in getting four couple and a
half up to lunch-time ; we then went off to beat
some beautiful dingles, and got three wood-
cock, half-a-dozen rabbits, and a hare. We
stopped there a week, and our bag at the end
of that time amounted to fourteen couple of
cock, eleven of snipe, two couple of teal and a
wild duck, six hares, and ten couple of rabbits.
No great bag, but enough to satisfy any
moderate sportsman. There was plenty of
ground to go over, indeed, I do not think we
went over any of it twice, except tor snipe.
There were a few grouse on the mountain, but
they were so wild they were not worth going
after ; but we saw some on several occasions.

120 How I Became a Sportsman.

Everything was done at the inn to conduce
to our comfort ; the cooking was excellent, and
everything we had, plain but good. One day
they would give us, perhaps, a nice young hen
turkey for dinner, the next a goose, and then
a small joint of well-hung Welsh mutton. I
can only say that we enjoyed ourselves most
thoroughly, so much so that we made up our
minds to, and did, go down again about the
middle of December, when the second flight
of cocks was in, and had quite as good sport.
Since that day I have participated in all kinds
of shooting, which the British Islands can pro-
duce, in perfection, from the lordly battue to the
single snipe ; I have had ample cock-shooting
in Ireland, grouse-shooting in Scotland, and at
our own bonny little brown bird on the English
stubbles, and I have had opportunities of
shooting with such first-rate and experienced
sportsmen as " Idstone " and " Sixty-One,"
and with many others of equal note ; but to
no time can I look back with greater pleasure
than to that week's rough wild shooting when
I killed my "first cock."

Now, when I add to all this that our bill,
including everything for the week, was only

My First Woodcock. 121

four pounds eleven shillings, I think I hit upon
a good thing. Our bag of woodcocks made a
great commotion amongst the sportsmen in our
neighbourhood, as so many together had never
been seen or dreamt of then.

For several years we made an annual excur-
sion there with varying success, but were never
disappointed in getting a fair amount of sport.
Twenty years afterwards we went again, but the
"Hotel" then had changed hands, had been
newly done up and decorated, the furniture was
of the gingerbread style, all French pohsh and
paste, the carpets were new ; and we badly
missed our cosy old room, where we could
smoke and have our dogs in, and do as we
liked. The cooking was nothing like so good.
The snipe-bog had been drained, woodcocks
were not half so numerous. Poor Lewis was
no more, and our bill was almost double, and
that did not include many extras, introduced
by the hand of civilization, and our pleasant
little shooting quarters had altogether been
improved out of all knowledge, which improve-
ments we did not appreciate ; and the place
knew us no more.

122

CHAPTER VII.

OLD BEN.

"Nor on the surges of the boundless air,
Though borne triumphant, are they safe ; the gun.
Glanced just and sudden from the fowler's eye,
O'ertakes their sounding pinions."

Thomson's Seasons.

I MENTIONED in my first chapter, and amongst
one of my earliest acquaintances in the sport-
ing line, a son of old Ben, whom I called an
old poacher; but it must not be understood
that I meant a poacher in the ordinary accept-
ation of the word, for I would not defile these
pages with evxn a word in favour of such
drunken, thieving, disorderly blackguards, and
I did not mean to infer he was anything of
that kind ; still, if a man has no ground of his
own, and does not take out a license to kill
game, he must, strictly speaking, be a bit of a
poacher, more or less.

Old Ben. 123

" Old Ben," then, whom I will for the future
call Ben only, was, when I first got acquainted
with him, about forty years of age ; but he
had a lean, hungry, half-starved look about
him, with high cheek-bones and lanthorn jaws,
which made him look much older than he
really was, and for many years there was very
little apparent change in him. He was in the
habit of coming to my father's to ferret the
rats about the place, and that was how I
became acquainted w^ith him and his son.
The rat-catching, in which I took great interest,
led on to ferreting rabbits, and in going out
after snipe, moorhens, etc., and also getting
him to accompany me in my fishing, at which
he was an adept.

In the winter-time Ben w^as always about with
a long single-barrelled gun under his arm when
he was on his beat, nearly always a large red
comforter round his neck, a generally cold,
shivery sort of look, particularly about the
nose. Ben was one of the best shots, in the
poking style, I ever saw, particularly at snipe.
I don't think he ever missed. He used to say
to me, " I can't think how you can miss them ;
they are as easy to kill as putting on an old

124 How I Became a Sportsmax.

shoe." In dress Ben was rather an oddity : he
was generally attired in a fashionably-cut but
well-worn cast-ofF suit of my lord's (which I
fancy he got for an occasional dish of trout, or
a few couples of snipe), and being very tall and
very thin, and his lordship shortish and stout,
the fit did not do much credit to the maker.
He was also generally thatched with a somewhat
battered white chimney-pot hat (or which had
been white once upon a time), with a black
band round it. Now, my lord's head being large
and round, and Ben's small and oval, the hat,
unless filled (as it generally was) with a large
red pocket-handkerchief, a rabbit net or two, a
box of matches, and some other unconsidered
trifles, had a tendency to get considerably low
down on the back of his neck ; and at all times,
even when well loaded, there was great diffi-
culty in keeping it in position. I don't think
I could have done anything, either fishing,
shooting, or anything else, with such an affair
on the top of my head ; but I suppose he had
got accustomed to it, for he seemed as comfort-
able and as well satisfied with it as if it had just
arrived new from its maker, and fitted him
exactly.

Old Bex. 125

Now all the poaching that Ben did was in
the day-time, and openly, at least, tolerably
openly, for except when he was on one of what
he called his beats, he took his gun to pieces
and carried inside his coat, with the end of the
barrel and the stock stuck in either pocket. I
have often seen him bring it out loaded, and
with the cap on the nipple — rather a dangerous
experiment to carry such an article, with the
muzzle within three inches of your ear.

Now Ben lived only a few miles from the
country-seat of the nobleman whose clothes he
wore, whose estate was strictly preserved ; but
there were a few farms which were rather
outlying, and which they did not trouble much
about, and over which an old gentleman of my
acquaintance used to have permission to shoot,
though I fancy without having exclusive right
to the shooting ; and upon these farms there
were some very marshy meadows, with a brook
running through the middle of them, in hard
weather a certain find for a wild duck or two, as
there was a pond belonging to the same estate
within four miles, where they w^ere bred and
preserved ; and the meadows were a capital
place for snipe, for I have had twenty shots of

126 How I Became a Sportsmax.

a morning before breakfast there, and if Ben
was with me, if I did not kill he would be sure
to wipe my eye.

Well, the old gentleman only shot over these
farms during September or October, and Ben
used to act as marker, and generally kept an
eye over the place for him, and I suppose on
this account, and that no one from the Hall
ever went there, or troubled about either the
snipe or the wild duck, Ben got into the habit
of doing it for them ; at all events, he had been
doing it so long that I really believe he
fancied he had a right to it, and looked upon
it somewhat in the light of his own particular
shooting-ground ; and I also fancy that it must
have been pretty well known by his lordship,
and winked at, that he did go there : hence the
secret of the cast-off clothes, the trout, and
the snipe. Let it be how it will, Ben used to
take me there as if he had a perfect right to
do so without let or hindrance, and I never
heard anything to the contrary but what it
was all right.

Ben, as I have said, was well up in all
shooting and fishing matters, and put me up
to a great many shrewd wrinkles, which I

Old Ben. 127

found of great and real assistance. He it was
who taught me how to get at a duck by
walking to the corners and bends of the stream,
thus not showing myself by walking all the
way down it ; also how to get an easy shot at
snipe by walking down wind, and as they
almost invariably fly against it, they have to
come round you, and thus present a much
easier shot. He taught me where to find all
the best trout, jack, and perch, and after he
had seen my first performance at partridges,
he soon put me right, and told me where I
failed.

" When you are shooting at a partridge,"
said Ben, " keep a little above him when you
fire, and he'll fly into the shot ; but mind you
don't drop the muzzle of your gun at the very
instant of pulling the trigger."

Now this is what most bad shots do ; their
aim may be true enough, but if, at the very
moment of pulling, the muzzle is lowered in
ever so slight a degree, the shot hits the bird
in the rump or about the legs, and this is the
cause of so many birds being tailored, and
going away wounded. Remember then to
hold on your bird for a moment after you

128 How I Became a Sportsmax.

have pulled the trigger. It is but an infini-
tesimal portion of time between the pressing of
the trigger by your finger and the time when
the shot leaves the muzzle of the gun ; still it
is sufficient^ if the bird has moved its self
upwards, and you have moved the muzzle of
the gun down, even slightly, by the time the
shot reaches the bird that distance is suffici-
ently increased to account for the difference
between killing your birds clean or wounding
them. Hold on then, I say (you had better
overdo it than underdo it), for a moment, and
not let your gun drop, or attempt to take it too
(juickly from your shoulder after pulling the
trigger in order to see what has become of the
bird, and you will generally find him as dead
as a herring.

By following this maxim I soon found the
difference, and learnt to kill my birds clean and
well. Of course very few men can do so always,
but as a rule they will be successful. And what
a pleasure it is in shooting, instead of having to
run after a small bird in perhaps high turnips,
or rough feg or fern. It discomposes your
nerves, ruffles your temper, and is undignified,
to say the least of it.

Old Bex. 129

One morning I was taking a constitutional,
and as I wanted to see Ben about some small
matter, I took a walk up to his house, which
overlooked the winding stream I have alluded
to. The first thing I saw on entering the
wicket leading up to the house was a couple of
good fat pigs in the sty. Hullo, thought I,
there is no want or misery here ! On looking
into the cottage, everything was as clean and
neat as a new pin. Again, thought I, that does
not look like a poacher's home anyhow. But
on looking in at the open door I also caught
sight of Ben, who had also instantly seen me.
He jumped up at once, and was reaching some-
thing down from over the mantel-piece ; when
I had got in he had it behind him, but I was
too quick for him. " Hullo ! " said I, " what
are you hiding that gun behind you for ? Let
me look at it.'' He hesitated a moment and
looked guilty, and then held it out. It was my
long-lost gun ; I had recognized it at a glance.
" How did you come by this, Mr. Benjamin ? "

" Well, 'tis no use telling any lies about it ;
'twas your gun, sir, and I got it some few years
ago from your uncle. Dr. J ."

Well, I arrived at the gist of the matter in a

130 How I Became a Sportsman.

moment, which Ben corroborated. When my
father made the unlucky discovery of my gun
described in the first chapter, his immediate
desire was to get rid of the poor old kicker
at once ; and not knowing how to set
about it, had consulted with my uncle on the
matter. Now, the old Doctor was rather fond
of his stomach, and particularly delighted in a
wild duck or a few snipe ; and as Ben was in the
habit of supplying him occasionally, nothing so
likely as that Ben was the man to buy the gun,
or dispose of it for the conspirators.

" What did you give for it, Ben ? "

" Well, sir, I didn't exactly give anything for
it, but the price was to be a pound ; but the
Doctor said he would take it out. As it made
it light for me, I agreed ; but I know the old
gentleman had his money's worth. But I was
to be very careful never to let you see the gun,'^
continued Ben ; '' and whenever I was likely to
meet you I never took it out."

" What sort of a killer is it, Ben ? " said I.

"Well," said Ben, "if you load it light,
there never was a better gun ; but if ever you
put in a heavy charge, it kicks most infernally."

We had by this time got outside the cottage^

Old Bex. 131

when, having caught sight of some one walk-
ing up the stream with a gun, " Who's that ? "
said I, calling Ben's attention to it.

"Be hanged," said Ben (shading his eyes
from the sun, as he had not got on the white
receptacle for all sorts), " if it isn't that young
Curnin again. I gee'd he leave to go up there
one day, and he has kept on going there ever
since, though I've a warned 'un off two or three
times."

'• Too bad," said I ; "it is a good deal too
bad, taking advantage of your good nature.
The rights of property ought to be respected.
I would prosecute him if I were you."

Ben looked doubtful, and the subject
dropped.

Whenever I saw Ben sitting in our saddle-
room of a morning, warming himself at the
stove, and looking as cold and miserable as
usual, and trying to light the damp tobacco,
I knew that something was up; perhaps the
snipe had arrived (for snipe are very change-
able in their selection of their ground, accord-
ing to the weather), and he had come to give
me the first intimation of it. Now this
certainly was unselfish of Ben, for he could of

1^2 How I Became a Sportsman.

course have gone and had the cream of the
shooting to himself, and have got as much for
what he shot probably as he would get out of
me for his trouble ; besides, he was immensely-
fond of the sport himself. Now, again, I say,
why did he come to me? Because he was a
sportsman ; ay, for Ben was a true sportsman
at heart, and shot for the pure love of exercising
the art of shooting. Believe me, kind reader,
when I say, that it is not necessary for a man
to be rich or noble to be a sportsman. The
same feelings are by nature implanted in us all,
and there is many a heart that beats under a
fustian jacket with as pure and genuine a love
of sport as that which stands behind the sixty
guinea breech-loader, or is carried on the back
of the three hundred guinea Leicestershire
hunter, only he, poor fellow, lacks the means
and opportunities of gratifying its desires.

" One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

Let it not be thought that what I have just
said arises from any cosmopolitan thoughts or
ideas ; far from it, for I am a good stickler for
the respect due to the different ranks of life
which the laws of that same nature has placed
us in.

Old Bex. 133

It happened, in the course of time, that the
old gentleman who shot over the outlying farms
I have mentioned went the way of all flesh,
and departed this hfe ; and his son, who was a
crony of mine, had the shooting over the farms
given to him entirely, and having determined
to have it looked after properly, had appointed
Ben to do so. Of course there was an end to
his and my snipe-shooting, at least over this
ground, and we had to look out for " fresh
fields and (snipe) pastures new." I used to be
asked sometimes to shoot over it with my
friend. It was really good partridge ground,
and I have had many a good day's sport there
with Ben, of course, as keeper now ; but he
had not discarded my lord's old suit and hat for
the ordinary keeper's stereotyped velveteen coat
and breeches and gaiters. No, Ben stuck to
his well-cut but (as they appeared on him)
somewhat incongruous-looking garments.

Although the appointment must have added
considerably to Ben's means, I believe he
would rather have gone on in the old way over
his " own beat." Now, the looking after the
game on this place did not of course take up
Ben's whole time, and he went to other beats

134 How I Became a Sportsmax.

of his, which he had before somewhat neglected
in favour of the home district, and I dare say
got on very well ; at all events, when I met
him he generally had his gun (my gun some-
times) in his pockets, together with some odds
and ends, the produce of it.

It was a great day for Ben when the gun
Licence Act was passed, as he had nothing to
do but pay his ten shillings and walk about
with his gun over his shoulder, " like any other
gentleman," as he said, whereas before he had
to carry it in two pieces in his pockets.

I was sitting one day with my friend and
Ben in a dry ditch, and with our backs to the
bank, after having a capital morning's sport
late in September, and just lighting our cigars,
when Ben hunted in his pockets and produced
something out of a rather unpromising-looking
bit of newspaper, and handed it to me.

" Read that, sir," said Ben.

" Well," said I, after looking at it, " this is a
gun licence all right."

Ben looked as if he thought it was some-
thing more.

" It's a ten-shilling ' certificate,' " said Ben ;
" that's what I asked for, and they gave me that."

Old Bex. 135

" All right," said I. " But it only gives you
permission to carry a gun ; it does not authorize
you to kill game."

" Ah ! " said Ben, with an inexpressibly cun-
ning and knowing look. "It don't say you
hain't to."

We could not help being immensely amused,
but I said to Ben, "I am afraid that cock won t

fight."

When w^e began to smoke Ben looked for
and always got permission to use his own
black cutty ; but he always had a terrible
job, for what with his talking incessantly, the
dampness of the tobacco, and the pipe (from
being carried amongst the debris in his waist-
coat pocket) being in a chronic state of
" choked up," it was a work of difficulty. I
think this continual pulling at his pipe must
have occasioned Ben's cheeks to be so hollow
and lanthorn-jawed, for he would, as soon as he
saw smoke begin to appear, commence telling
us some tale or other, and out the pipe would
go again, the whole process having to be gone
through again, so that he usually consumed
nearly a box of matches at a sitting.

In the village where Ben lived there w^as a

136 How I Became a Sportsman.

sanctimonious old grocer, of whom is told a
good story. He was very old and very white,
for he had a white head of short stubby hair,
always wore a white apron and white cotton
stockings, which incased very small spindle-
shanked legs ; he had small, sharp, restless
eyes, and a nose almost as long as one of his
legs ; he always looked as if he was minding
some one else's business besides his own. He
looked so sharp and keen, he put me in mind
of a white jackdaw. Just as he was closing
his shutters for the night, previous to shutting
up his shop, the following conversation was
overheard.

"Emanuel," called the old man.

" Yes, father."

" Have you sanded the sugar ? "

" Yes, father."

"Ebenezer."

"Yes, father."

" Have you watered the tobacco ? "

" Yes, father."

" Then come in to prayers."

Now, I fancy that this must have been the
very shop where Ben got his tobacco, which
would account for the difficulty in getting a

Old Ben. 137

pufF out of it. Besides, if he got it clamp he
kept it so, for his tobacco pouch was a bladder
(and not at all a bad one either), which he
always produced from some inner chamber of
the big white hat. I think this hat was the
most capacious and useful place of deposit the
old fellow had about him, for if he had any-
thing he had not room for anywhere else, into
the hat it went. I am not sure that he did not
put game in sometimes. When we wanted to
see what was in it we used to ask him for a
light ; there were generally a good many lying
about, besides a box or two. What he did
before lucifer matches were invented I cannot
imagine, as, if he used the old brimstone
matches and tinder-box, he would have needed
to carry a small timber yard about with him,
to say nothing of the pleasure of a large dirty
tin box on the top of his head.

Poor old Ben, whatever faults were his, he
certainly had a good many good points in his
favour : he was sober, honest, and ever ready to
go anywhere or do anything he was asked, and
I do not believe he had an atom of selfishness
about him. He was an untiring walker, and
about the best marker I ever came across. He

138 How I Became a Sportsmax.

early put me up to marking down partridges.
Men not accustomed 'to it are too apt to say
they are down long before they are, when they
see them go near the ground ; the eye should
never be taken off them until that peculiar
flapping of the wings is seen which they make
in settling. You see them go over a fence, and
they are apparently going to settle ; but if you
do not see the flapping or poising the body for
an instant, don't fancy they are down if you
lose sight of them, but carry your eye forward,
and most probably you will see them going
over the next fence. Partridges take very long
flights when they get strong, and late in the
season, when they are best worth shooting ;
they also very often, when they are wild, run a
good way after alighting, and I have always
found it repay for the time and trouble taken
in doing it, to go some way ahead of them, by
going quietly under the hedges, or any way
you can get there without disturbing fresh
ground, and come back upon them. It out-
manoeuvres their tactics, as in all probability, if
you followed them, they would be most likely
either to get up before you got to them, or else
run on into the next field, and then rise again.

Old Ben. 139

Besides, if you are anywhere near the outside
of your ground, you drive them back into
it, instead of on to your neighbour's, where
probably they would remain for the remainder
of the day. Whatever is worth doing is worth
doing well. I have found this particularly true
in partridge-shooting, and extra pains and
trouble are amply made up for in getting the
birds well scattered about all over your ground.
I never spared any pains to accomphsh my
object, and I generally succeeded.

140

CHAPTER Vlir.

DARTMOOR.

" Devonia's dreary Alps ! And now I feel the influence of
that impressive calm that rests upon them. Nothing
that has life is visible."

The large tract of country comprised in the
forest of Dartmoor is rather grand than beau-
tiful. Bleak and barren it is, no doubt, but as
there is nothing like it in this little island
of ours, a visit to it in good weather is
very much to be recommended and enjoyed.
Dartmoor, as a place for a healthy walking
tour, even in winter-time, is, in my opinion,
to a man of robust and good constitution, a
place to be visited ; the air is as pure as it
can be, and in many places it is not too far
off the sea for one to feel its bracing influ-
ence. The appetite given by a long tramp
on its breezy, heathery downs is not easily to

Dartmoor. 141

be appeased, and the perfume in the air given
by the peat smoke from some sohtary cottage
of a shepherd, or other denizen of the moor, is
not to be excelled by the rarest essences that
Piesse and Lubin can supply, or that can be
distilled from the rarest and choicest flowers
that grow in this or foreign lands — that is,
to my nostrils, which have a strong tendency
to prefer the sweet odours of nature to those
of art.

On going into a cottage near the borders of
the moor on one occasion, I complimented the
goodwife on the healthy appearance of her
children. She said, " Yes, the ones that live to
get that size are hardy enough ; but if they are
at all weakly when young the weather soon
kills them."

The following description of Dartmoor, given
by the Reverend Samuel Rowe in his excellent
work, is so fine, and gives so faithful a descrip-
tion of this grand tract of wild moor country,
that I trust I may be excused for giving it
here in full.

Mr. Rowe there says : " There are numerous
tracts of the moor where, around the whole
expanse, the eye cannot light upon a single

142 How I Became a Sportsmax.

feature that is not pristine, intact, and natural.
The entire scene in spots is of this untamed
and primaeval character. Not a trace of man's
presence or occupancy is to be detected. Even
the half-wild cattle which range other parts of
the moor at pleasure seem to shun the swampy-
steppes of the central wilderness." Again he
says : " The desert expanse has come down to
us rude and inviolate from primaeval times.
The Tors pile their fantastic masses against the
sky as they first frowned in the uncertain
dawn of time. The granite wrecks of some
original convulsion still lie scattered in most
admired disorder. The roar of many an
ancient river foaming along the rock-bound
channel breaks upon the still silence of the
w^aste as it did hundreds of ages ago. All bears
the impress of unaltered duration and undis-
turbed solitude. Who with a particle of sensi-
bility could climb its Tor-crowned peaks,
traverse its rock-strewed ravines, or penetrate
its trackless morasses without an irresistible
impression that every object around belongs
to a period of unrecorded antiquity ? And who,
when thus surrounded by the silent yet
eloquent memorials of the mysterious past.

Dartmoor. 143

will not acknowledge their influence in 'with-
drawing him from the power of the senses,' and
in carrying forward his thoughts to the still
more mysterious future ? He wanders in a
desert encircled with primaeval mountains, and
beholds nature piling all round, in fantastic
and mimic masonry, huge masses of granite, as
if to mock the mightiest efforts of human art.
Vast and gloomy castles appear to frown defi-
ance from the beetling crags around. But no
mortal hand ever laid their adamantine founda-
tions or reared their dizzy towers. Nature is
the engineer that fortified the heights thou-
sands of years ago ; hers are the massive walls,
hers the mighty bastions, hers the granite
glacis scarped down to the roaring torrent be-
low, hers the hand that reared those stupendous
citadels, which fable might have garrisoned
with demigods and beleaguered with Titans."

Some people may say this is what is often
called " fine writing." Well, I can safely say,
that in my opinion, formed from visiting the
moor, — not once only, but many many times,
in fact, I lived on it one whole winter, — I do
not consider the word-picture he has drawn
one bit too highly coloured.

144 How I Became a Sportsmax.

But now I ask the reader, after reading the
above, if he would think anything of Dart-
moor as a field for sport ? and yet I have had
sport there, and enjoyed myself exceedingly.
But woe betide any man who is beguiled into
going there thinking to m.ake a bag, or indeed
even to hear his gun go off many times a
day, unless under exceptional and rare circum-
stances and occasions ; he must also be a first-
rate walker, and not afraid of the weather or
getting his feet wet. There is another draw-
back : on or near the moor in many places
there are, or were, lead and tin mines, and every
miner has a gun, or a dog, or ferret, sometimes
all three, and if any unlucky hare or rabbit or
bird is seen or heard of, he is pursued to the
death. Again, if there should be a brood of
young black game, the shepherds or their
dogs manage to nail them when they are
about half or three parts grown. You may
occasionally see a black cock on the moor, but
he is such a wary old gentleman, he is off
before you can get within three hundred yards
of him. At times I have seen a good many
snipe on the moor, but you must know when

Dartmoor. 145

and where to look for them. Hard weather
drives them entirely away. There are also
plenty of golden plover, but they require a
good deal of getting at, and you may go out
for days without success, and again, you may
make a fair bag if you have luck. But
sport altogether is so precarious, that unless
a man, as I have said, can walk, and loves
the lonely moor with its stunted heather, its
broken, wet, and boggy covering, its bleak and
stony Tors, and its perfect stillness and loneli-
ness, as I do, and unless he can put up with
solitude, I would most strongly advise him not
to go there. I have been there on many
occasions; the first time was with my brother
(now pioneering in the backwoods of Canada),
which I will give a short description of. After
shooting three seasons at partridges and other
lowland game, I longed to have a taste of the
moor and the mountain, the salmon stream
and the loch. Scotland at that time of day
was not to be thought of. I have had plenty
of them all since that time though, but never
enough. How I love the heathery hills, the
crow of the cock grouse, and the wild notes of

146 How I Became a Sportsmax.

the curlew, the rattling of the brawling river,
and other highland sounds and scenes, and
shall till the day of my death.

I had heard and read a good deal of Dart-
moor, and in the absence of anything better
resolved to visit it. And having sounded my
brother Ted on the subject, and found him
nothing loth, we packed up our traps (as few
as we could possibly manage wath), shouldered
our guns, took a brace of spaniels with us, and
having got on the coach at Bristol, went by it
as far as Exeter; here we left our coats and
rugs, and then resolved to do the other part on
foot. We had a tolerable load each, consisting
of an extra pair of boots and stockings, flannel
shirts, etc.; and with our ammunition, of which
we thought proper to take a good supply, we
made the best of our way to the nearest part
of the moor, and then put up at any small
inn or public-house we could find (on one
occasion we got accommodated at a small
farm-house, but preferred the inns), from
which we made daily excursions into the
moor. We found the accommodation some-
what of the roughest, but it did not much
matter to us, as we had made up our minds to

Dartmoor. 147

it. In the course of ten days we had paid
visits to most parts of the moor by changing
our place of abode three or four times.

I am not going to inflict upon the reader an
account of our daily sport ; it was not great,
certainly, but we got enough to satisfy us. Our
game consisted mostly of snipe and golden
plover. Of the former we killed a good many,
and the weather being mild and open (it was
the early part of December), and being both
good walkers and in rare condition, we
thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

My brother was a better shot than I was,
although, from having an injury to his right
arm when he was a child, he shot from his left
shoulder. I rarely ever saw him miss. He did
once though, fortunately, for he missed me. I
was getting over a fence in front of him, when,
as he was letting down the hammers of his
gun to half-cock, it went off; the charge passed
between my arm and my body, and took a
piece out of my coat — rather a close shave, but
a miss is as good as a mile.

We made a great mistake in taking spaniels
to Dartmoor. Very few spaniels are fit for the
open, and though the ones we took were very

148 How I Became a Sportsman.

good, we found them of little use to us. What
we ought to have taken was a good steady
setter ; old Sancho would have done admirably.
By the way, I have always found the Irish
setter better adapted for snipe-shooting than
any other breed, they have such a quiet,
stealthy, panther-like gallop, and wet ground
seems to suit them exactly.

My next venture on Dartmoor was upon a
part which I had rented for a few seasons. This
had been preserved for years, and here we
always had fair sport, including a very nice
head of partridges ; but this was not on Dart-
moor forest proper, but on the borders of it,
where there were many cultivated patches of
ground. Still, much of the ground was of the
same character as the moor itself; there was a
sprinkling of game of most kinds, and in the
season plenty of snipe and woodcocks. There
were several nice coverts on the place, besides a
lot of rushy, moist ground covered with short
bushes, with small streams of water running
through, just the very place for cocks — and
cocks there always were. It seemed a favourite
feeding-ground for them, as proved by their
borings, and also a pleasant place to lie quiet

Dartmoor. 149

in during the day, for if you killed a bird in
certain well-known spots on one day, his place
was sure to be filled in a few days by another
(woodcocks are very like trout in this respect) ;
though I believe, as a rule, woodcocks do not
spend the day in places that they feed at in the
evening, but regularly go backwards and for-
wards from their homesteads to their pastures.
But this particular piece of ground seemed well
adapted, and was used for both purposes : they
could have their suppers, and run off to bed
at once without the trouble of flying home,
though perhaps it would be recommended by
the family physician for the woodcock to fly a
mile after supper, as a walk to the same extent
is said to be good for the human race ; or in
lieu of the flying, he might perhaps have
recommended " Woodcock's Wind Pills."

In my wanderings about after duck, snipe,
etc., I usually carried, when I was out by
myself, a small fishing basket of rather open
wicker-work (just lightly brushed over with
black varnish to take off' the newness and
garishness) to put my game, luncheon, etc., in,
as I always had a very great objection to put
game of any kind into my pockets ; in fact, I

150 How I Became a Sportsmax.

hated pockets in the tails of my shooting-coats
(breast pockets for carrying the powder, and
shot-belts, could not be dispensed with), and
would rather have abandoned the game where
it fell than have it dangling about my person.
Apart from the uncomfortableness of it, it
spoils the game ; when put in hot, wet, or
bloody they do not keep half so long, or look
so presentable to your friends. I think it is
Colonel Hawker, in his excellent work on wild-
fowling, gives directions for shooting-coat
pockets being lined with oil silk to prevent the
blood of the hares and birds from soiling your
breeches (some people think this a word hardly
to be mentioned, but I like to call a spade a
spade). Fancy a gentleman lugging about a
brace of great beastly, bleeding hares in his
shooting-jacket pockets, with half-a-dozen brace
of birds to balance them !

Well, I suppose that some people used to do
it, but I never could ; in fact, I always hated
to be weighted in any way, it would be sure
to spoil anything like brilliant shooting. The
same keen old sportsman also gives some won-
derful receipts for dressing calico with boiled
oil, and other abominations, to make waterproof

Dartmoor. 151

shooting-coats. What with the game in the
pockets, and the oil-coats, what pleasant cus-
tomers they must have been. What would
the gallant old wild-fowler have given for one
of the best mackintoshes of the present day ?
I also disliked being bungled up about the
legs with gaiters, and would at any time
rather get wet than wear them ; and as for
thorns, I utterly despise them, though I have
had my legs so covered with their holes and
scratches, as to scarcely have a space an inch
broad that was not covered with them. I
believe I must have been the original inventor
of (the now almost universal and pleasant
garment for shooting) knickerbockers, for very
many years ago I used to cut off the legs
of my trousers about six inches below the
kn^e, and have them sewn round the bottom,
and so wear them loose. They did away with
thq flopping about your ankles, and wet and
muddy trousers, and were cool and pleasant ;
and another recommendation was, they did not
cost much. It is true that they must have made
one look very much like the schoolboy with

" His short striped trousers, and now and then
A stripe upon his jacket too."

152 How I Became a Sportsmax.

But what did it matter, they were first-rate to
walk in.

Well, when we made our first excursion to

Dartmoor, we had fully intended taking the

fishing basket, but somehow it had got left

behind. We took no servant, and whenever we

arrived at the small pubhc-house which formed

our head-quarters for the time being, made

immediate inquiries for a guide of some sort, as

it is very difficult, and at times dangerous, work

to penetrate far into the moor ; what I really

mean to say is, to find your way back again.

I have on several occasions been lost for many

hours in fogs, to which Dartmoor is very

subject, and which come on very suddenly,

and have sometimes found myself several miles

from the place where I thought I was. I

believe the best plan is to sit still under a stone

or hollow till it clears ; but that would not be

very pleasant at all times, particularly if you

had to sit there all night, as is very probable,

and with the prospect of being devoured by

wolves or shepherds' dogs, which, as old

Jorrocks said, "would be much of a muchness,

as far as the comfort was concerned." Ah !

with what delight have I heard the voice of

Dartmoor. 133

that same shepherd's dog under similar cir-
cumstances.

One rough guide, then, for the time being,
had to carry such game as we killed, and as (if
he had been left to himself) he would have been
sure to have shoved it into his pockets, or
somehow or other disposed of it about his
person, I invented a game-carrier, a sketch
of which I give. The merest tyro will of course
at a glance see how to use it ; but let any one
making one not fall into the error I once did,
in using a spare shoe-string (which I always
carried in my shooting-jacket) instead of string,
being short of this article ; it slipped, and we
lost two birds in consequence. My game-
stick was cheap, simple, and effective, some-
thing after the style of game-carriers of the
present ; but in the absence of such a swell
article, how often have I been glad to make
use of my own simple expedient. Any one
can make it, and the materials necessary are a
hedge stake, a couple of yards of strong string,
and a red-hot skewer. The loop being folded
up and again made into a loop upon itself, so
as to form a double loop, as shown on the right
of the sketch, the birds' heads are popped in,

154 How I Became a Sportsman.

and there they are hung up to dry, cool,
comfortable, clean, and respectable, with their
feathers nicely smoothed down. If the strings
are made long enough, two or even three birds
may go into each loop.

Some years after this, when I had become
pretty well tired of shooting in enclosed coun-
ties, and was hankering after the wilds of
Dartmoor Forest, its primitiveness and freedom
from restraint, my eye caught an advertise-
ment in the 'Times' of a furnished cottage to
be let for a season on the borders of Dart-
moor. I at once entered into a negotiation
with the advertiser, and eventually took it.
He described the shooting as comprising
almost every variety of game, including black
cock, woodcock, snipe, partridge, and hares.
The first two would have had irresistible
charms for me if they had been there in any
number. No doubt all the birds and animals
which he said, existed there ; but alas ! how
few and far between ; however, I knew what to
expect, and was not disappointed. The cottage
was everything I could wish, having been
built purposely for a shooting and fishing box ;
and barring the difficulty of getting provisions.

Dartmoor. 155

and the misery of being confined to the house
for a whole fortnight through an injury to
my foot in cUmbing one of the Tors, and on
another occasion being completely snowed up
for a similar period, I enjoyed myself after my
own fashion and to my heart's content.

One piece of luck happened to me while I
was laid up with a sprained foot. I had never
up to this time had the good fortune to kill a
right and left at woodcocks, though I had had
several chances. Something always went Vv'rong,
I stepped in a hole just at the moment of
flinging up my gun, or some tree or bush
always was in the way. If none of these contre-
temps happened, then I bungled in some
inexplicable way, though I was generally very
successful in killing cocks, having succeeded
in attaining the necessary coolness ; but I did
manage it at last when least expected.

One day, when I had got tired of my books,
and hardly knew how to get through the time
till dinner was ready, one of those half-poach-
ing, half-sportsmen sort of fellows I have
mentioned before, who are sure to make the
acquaintance of any sportsman who comes
into their neighbourhood, and who had made

ij6 How I Became a Sportsman.

himself useful to me in several ways, came up
to my cottage and said, as he was coming
home from his work on two different evenings,
just as it was getting dusk, he had seen two
woodcocks crossing a certain place in the road
just about a quarter of a mile from my house ;
they were coming from the direction of an
immense wood, and making their way to their
feeding-ground. Now, as I knew the habits of
the bird always induced him to take the same
regular flight to his supper, I determined to
hobble up there ; and having told my friend to
come up again in the evening, I dismissed him
after taking minute bearings, from his descrip-
tion, as to the exact spot where he had seen
them crossing. This information made the
afternoon pass very pleasantly, and when the
time drew near, with the aid of a stick, I made
the best of my way to the spot indicated. I
waited a long time, and got very cold, and was
just fancying they had gone some other road,
or they were going to stay at home that even-
ing, or, after all, it might be a hoax, when I
saw my two long-billed friends coming sailing
quickly along. I had only just time to pop '
down my head and get into position, when

Dartmoor. 157

they were upon me. I was under the fence,
and they were just past me before I was dis-
covered. In an instant they were off like two
swifts, diverging right and left ; but they were
not quick enough for the leaden shower which
reached them, and down they came in good
style.

I was uncommonly cocky, the reader may
imagine, and went home a great deal quicker
and better than I had gone up, and it very
nearly cured my foot for a time. I have often
asked myself the question whether it was quite
a legitimate and sportsman-like thing to kill
the poor birds after dusk, and on the way to
their feed ; but then, I argued that circum-
stances alter cases, and in this case it was
excusable.

Not very long since I was mentioning this
circumstance to the head-keeper of a well-
known Welsh squire, who is great in the dog
line, when he said, " Oh, that's nothing! I'll be

bound Mr. L has done that fifty times in

his life." I said, " Oh, I suppose that's some-
thingy I swallowed the dose, cum grano satis,
and a pretty good-sized grain too. All I
know is, that I have never done it since, and

158 How I Became a Sportsmax.

I only recollect having the chance once, when
a couple got up under my feet. I was mooning
about something at the time, and was so
utterly flabbergasted that I only collected my-
self in time to get a shot at one, which I
missed.

After being laid up for a fortnight it takes
one some days to get your wind. It would
not suit every man's taste to be entirely by
himself in such quarters as the place I have
attempted to describe. It is true at times
it was rather solitary, as I had only one old
woman-servant in the house, and I was
obliged to content myself with the com-
panionship of my two dogs ; but it suited
my taste exactly. The wind also at night
would have driven any one disposed to the
blues to fancy it was rather melancholy, as
when they, having gathered strength in travel-
ling across the vast extent of moor, where
there were no trees to break their fury, came
down in all their strength, the house would
shake to that extent that it seemed a miracle
it was not blown out of the ground. The
rattling of the doors and windows would be
quite a finisher to a nervous person. But

Dartmoor. 159

then I rather like to hear the wind howl
(I cannot say I hke to feel its power though,
as I much prefer a wet day to a windy one)
when, after the fatigues of a long day, I sit
comfortably over the fire of an evening, just
tired and sleepy enough to know I shall
get to sleep directly I choose to go to bed.
Altogether I always was, and always am,
delighted with the grand, wild old moor.

Then as the days get longer with the new
year, and February begins at times to show
signs of the coming spring, how delightful is a
day's trout-fishing in one of the many small
streams which have their rise in the moor.
I had a nice little stream within a hundred
yards of my cottage door, where I could
always get a few fish for breakfast. I hardly
like to think of them, they are simply de-
licious ; and with the keen appetite which I
always had when at my far-off and quiet
bachelor quarters, and with some home-baked
bread, obtained through the kindness of a
moor farmer about a mile off, and some pure
fresh butter (without the slightest or most
remote taint or suspicion of butterine or
olearine, or any other such frightful abomin-

i6o How I Became a Sportsman.

ations), new-laid eggs, and home-cured ham,
what more could sportsman want ? It is a
breakfast fit for an emperor, if only such
pampered patrician appetite could venture on
such plebeian fare. And then for dinner, trout
again, if you like, a well-hung joint of real
Dartmoor mutton, done to a turn, a small
saddle for choice, followed by a fresh-killed
snipe (both snipe and woodcock are better
for being cooked fresh, the trail gets dried up
by keeping) on toast, the whole supplemented
by good, wholesome, home-brewed beer, and
topped up with one or at most two glasses
of good old whiskey and water cold, and
without sugar. Not a drop more, my dear
reader, not a drop, though it is very nice.
What more could mortal man possibly desire ?
Man wants but little here below, but requires
that little to be very good of its kind. That
is the great secret ; it is not signifying much
what you eat or drink. Then if you should
be a smoker, tone the whole down with your
favourite weed, whether in the bowl of a pipe
or cigar ; the former I have preferred for many
years. The more simple a man's tastes the
more easily they are gratified, and the more

Dartmoor. i6i

satisfaction he gets out of the goods the gods
supply; but I have always made it a rule,
however plain, to have the best I can get
of its kind.

Well, if with the little comforts I have
alluded to, a man cannot make himself com-
fortable, always supposing his object be sport,
health, and exercise, then I think he must be
hard to please.

The old Dartmoor sheep, which were very
small, are being gradually improved off the
face of the earth ; as the auctioneer says, " you
have more wool and more mutton." That is
quite true, but they have not the quality of
the old stock, nor the flavour, but the mutton
is still excellent. Everything is being altered
in these fast days of- raihvays, steamboats,
telegraph wires, and electric lights, and in a
few short years the whole face and character
ofj Dartmoor may be considerably altered.
Already railways have penetrated its bleak and
barren wilds ; weekly markets have been estab-
lished in all the httle neighbouring towns, and
even what were not long since mere villages ;
the very moor men are losing their pruiii-
tiveness and simplicity, but whether for the

1 62 How I Became a Sportsmax.

better it behoves me not to say. As Dart-
moor was for ages, and as I have seen it, I love
it and glory in it ; such as it may be in future
years will not be my lot to know.

The trout in most of the Devonshire
streams come in very early, and in the moor
streams they run very small ; but what they
lack in size they make up in numbers. The
streams are so bright and clear, that they
require a lot of catching, and old Isaac's
disciples must keep themselves well out of
sight in order to succeed. Long before the
fly is on the water a good dish of flsh may be
got with the worm ; but it is not every one
who cares to fish with that unpleasant kind of
bait, and by many it is considered unsports-
manlike. Tlie story goes of an old Scotch
fisherman saying, when it was suggested to him
to try the worm, and with a most offended and
dignified air, " I am but a poor mon, but
I never fash with wurrem."

Well, I am not exactly of the old Scotch-
man's mind. I do not altogether fancy worm-
fishing, it is true, but I do not despise it, and
when fish can be caught in no other way I take
advantage of it. I never was a very great hand

DxVRTMOOR. 163

at "thrawing the flee," but next to spinning,
which is my particular forte in the fishing
way, I much prefer catching flsh with the
artificial fly than the natural bait ; but of all
streams I know, the rivers of Dartmoor require
the fisherman, more than any other, to bear in
mind and carry out this principle, namely, to
Jish far off and fine.

If any of my readers should be tempted to
pay the moor a visit, I earnestly recommend
them to take their thickest boots, and very
warm and thick but light clothing, consisting
of nothing but woollen garments ; not a particle
of linen should be worn, as the weather is at
all times treacherous and uncertain, and the
walking being hard, weight of clothing is not
desirable. If any such there be, I can only
wish them health and strength to enjoy the
beauties of nature in some of her wildest and
grandest moods, though they have charms for
nie which many others might not see in them,
and return to more civilized, though perhaps
not happier, life, with a constitution so in-
vigorated by regular life, pure air, and hard
exercise, as to make them look back with
unalloyed pleasure at their visit to Dartmoor.

164

CHAPTER IX.

THE BIG TROUT.

''Or haply on some river's cooling bank,
Patiently musing, all intent, I stand
To hook the finny glutton ; his weight
My taper angle bends ; surprised, amazed.
He glitters in the sun, and struggling pants
For liberty, till in the purer air
He breathes no more." — SO-MERVILLE.

Trout-fishixg of any kind is now very diffi-
cult to get^ and for really good fishing, the
disciple of Isaac Walton must travel far, and
fish fine and far off. I think railways have
done as much to cause this as they have done
to bring the sport of hunting within reach of
hundreds who were previously debarred from
it. Fishing was at one time considered to be
the poor man's sport, but I doubt very much
if it is now ; I don't mean catching roach
and gudgeons, and such like, for I never did,
and 1 am sure I shall never now acquire the

The Big Trout. 165

taste, — bottom-fishing is, I grant, the poor-
man's sport, and with it may he be contented,
and five long to enjoy it, — I mean the fishing
which you require to serve a long and patient
apprenticeship to, before you can expect to
arrive at any degree of perfection. Many, nay,
perhaps most, do not get beyond mediocrity ;
that is my case. Although I have tried my best
to arrive at the higher grade, I am free to
confess I never got within a long throw of
the pinnacle, that is to say, fishing with the
artificial fly, as I have mostly devoted myself
to spinning. It is said that no man really
enjoys it thoroughly unless he can kill fish
with flies of his own manufacture ; I have no
doubt it adds immensely to the pleasure.

A friend of mine, who was a first-rate hand,
with whom I was out one day, a very bright
sunshiny one, with the water as clear as crystal,
when not a fish would look at our flies, said to
me, " Did you see that gentle rise near the
opposite bank ? "

"Yes," I said, "I did; but I don't think
it's a fish."

" It is," he said, " and I'll catch him. Have
you a kid glove in your pocket ? "

1 66 How I Became a Sportsman.

I had, and he cut a tiny bit of the white
part from the inside, put it on the point of
his hook, and threw over the spot where he
fancied he had seen the fish rise, and had
him in a moment ; and in less time than I have
taken to write it, he was safe in the landing-
net and kicking on the grass, a nice fish of
half a pound. This probably may be nothing
new, but I had never seen it done before. The
same day he popped a bit of worm on to
the tail fly and dropper, and let them sink
into a deep pool, and very soon hooked a trout
and a perch, both of which he landed.

Nearly all trout-fishing worth having is now
strictly preserved ; but there are still districts
where it can be had. I will point to one in
which plenty of fishing may be got — I mean
the wild district of Dartmoor and the borders
of it ; but the sportsman must be satisfied
with numbers, as the fish run small in a
general way. But they are most delicious
eating, and with some brown bread and butter,
and an appetite acquired on the moor, I don't
envy the man who could turn up his nose
at them.

Tavistock, where tickets for the Tavy and

The Big Trout. 167

the Ticl can be procured by the day^ week, or
season, is not a bad place to stay at, as the
raihvay takes you to many places ; but bear
this in mind, the farther you get from the
rail the better chance you get of sport, as
a great many good fishermen who know the
w^ater go out from Plymouth, Exeter, and the
towns in the neighbourhood.

I once came across two trout which were so
gorged with the May-fly as to appear quite
drunk and helpless. It was just at the com-
mencement of the season, and very hot ; they
were rolling about on the top of the water, and
w^hen I tried to drop a fly into their mouths,
which they were continually opening, as if
gasping for breath, they just dropped quietly
down a foot or so and came up again ; they
took no further notice of me. I waded in and
tried to pop the landing-net under them, but
they had just enough life left in them to avoid
it; I did succeed in getting one of them into
it, but he rolled out again before I could fling
him out.

The w^eather also is so constantly interfering
with sport, that a man always needs to live on
the banks of a stream to take advantage of the

i68 How I Became a Sportsman.

best days. Many a weary tramp I have had
to a stream a long way off, only to find the
water as thick as a duck's puddle^ from sheep-
washing somewhere above ; and you might as
well fish in one^ for any chance you have of
catching fish.

Nearly ah fly-fishers profess to despise the
worm ; but I have known many who, on the
sly^ were not above taking advantage of his
seductive wrigglings, when they could not fill
the creel in a more legitimate way. I knew
one old gentleman in Devonshire^ who scarcely
ever returned with an empty basket, when
others, who had been out all day, had not risen
a fish. I got the secret out of a boy who
used to attend him. He said his master
would start off whipping the stream in the
most orthodox fashion ; but if the fish did
not rise, he pulled a box of worms out of his
pocket, clapped one on to a hook, and set
to work, the boy keeping 'a sharp look-out;
and if he saw any one coming, gave timely
intimation to his maister, who soon whipped on
his fly again, and thrashed away in the most
innocent manner possible.

" Any luck, Hedger ? " said the new-com.er.

The Big Trout. 169

"Yes, killed a brace of nice fish."
" Very odd ; 1 can't get a rise. What fly
are you using ? "

" A small black gnat."

" Very strange, so am I ; but I'll persevere."
And away he went, and as soon as he was
out of sight, on went the worm again.

I never was very fond of worm-fishing, but
I had one stream where I never could catch
fish in any other way, except when the May-
fly was on ; in fact, I never saw them rise to a
fly of any other kind. The first trout I ever
caught was with a worm. I was looking over
a bridge on a by-road on an April morning;
the stream was very shallow, but underneath
the bridge, and a little way beyond, it was. some
four feet deep, and in this hole I saw sailing
about very quietly a fine trout. He was deep
down in the water, and I did not look long ;
but away I went home, and got my rod and
some worms, which I happened to have ready
for perch. It took me about two hours before
I got back again, but there was the fish still ;
in my anxiety to be at him, I had put my rod
together and baited the hook on my way, and
it was not long before he was well hooked, and

1 yo How I Became a Sportsmax.

landed on the bank. I thought him a whopper
and a beauty, as he was ; and he turned the
scale at over a pound. I had no sooner caught
him than I began to have suspicions that I
might be poaching, and bustled off home with
my prize as fast as I could go.

On thinking the matter over, I came to the
conclusion that there must be more fish
further up the stream ; and soon after called
upon Sir H. T.^ the owner of the land, and
asked him if I might fish up his stream ?

"Certainly," was the kind reply. "But I
doubt if you will find any fish there."

I said, " I hope to convince you to the
contrary ; " and away I went to have a look
at the water.

It was very narrow, only about five yards
wide, and very winding ; many of the bends
forming quite an angle. The stream was very
shallow in places, and so overgrown with
nettles, thorns, and bushes as to make it
difficult to see into it ; but although the stream
was generally shallow, at every bend there was
a hole, sometimes three or four feet deep, and
in others much more. But what a sight met
my eyes, such a one as I had never seen before

The Big Trout. 171

— in almost every hole there was a magnificent
trout rolling about, and showing his golden
sides. I took stock of every one of them, and
what was more, from the undisturbed state of
the bushes and nettles, concluded that the
existence of these fish was not known ; so
I determined on having a good day at them
on the morrow. I made every preparation,
but scarcely slept at all that night thinking
of them ; and such sleep as I got was dis-
turbed by all sorts of visions of monster trout,
and entanglements in the bushes, which was a
forerunner of what actually took place.

I was early on the ground ; but the getting
my rod through the bushes was attended with
considerable difficulty, so as to keep myself
unseen. But they were the most unsophisti-
cated trout I ever came across, and notwith-
standing my inexperience, and all the diffi-
culties, I succeeded in catching several very
good fish, and was not long in taking up a
brace of the best to Sir H. T., who was very
much amazed, and not less pleased.

I lost a good many fish from having no one
to help me land them, and getting caught in
the briars ; but a better day's fishing I never

172 How I Became a Sportsman.

had in my life. At the end of the day I had
killed five and a half brace of fish, weighing
fourteen pounds, and did not forget to take up
a fair quota to the squire.

When the May-fly came on I killed a great
many fish by dapping with the natural fly; but
I never caught one in this stream in any other
way than with the worm or the natural May-
fly ; indeed I do not think throwing a fly on
this water would have been possible, except in
a very few places.

Worm-fishing in swift-running streams, with
Stewart's tackle, is quite an art of itself; and
many a good day I have had in the streams
running through those splendid woods near
Lidford in Devonshire ; and I have caught
many a good dish of fish in that way in that
extraordinary natural phenomenon, the cele-
brated Lidford Gorge.

I had another stream, about four miles away
from this first place I mentioned, where I
subsequently obtained the sole right of fishing
for about two miles. This river was of a
different character : in places very deep, but in
others, where the water ran very sharp, there
were beautiful gravelly scours; and it was in

The Big Trout. 173

these, and the deeper water running at the
sides of the scours, where I killed a great many
good fish by spinning either the natural minnow
or the phantom. I never tried worm-fishing
in this stream, neither did I ever see a single
fish rise at any other fly than the May-fly, and
when that was in season it was very killing,
and many a good basket of fish by both
those means I have got out of it. I knew
at last every inch of the stream, and could
almost tell to an inch w^here to spin and
get a rise. I felt so sure of always killing
a fish wdth the spinning minnow, that on one

occasion, when Mr. P. L n w^as staying

with me, the conversation turned on fishing,
w^hen I made him a bet, that I would kill a
two-pound trout for breakfast next morning.

I w^as up by daylight, and had a pony ready
for me, and away I cantered wdth my creel on
my back and my rod under my arm. I went
to "the lower end of the water and fished up ;
I did all I knew, but not a rise did I get,
although I fished nearly all the most likely
places ; but I rather fancy that in my hurry
to get to well-known spots I neglected many
others, which perhaps might have yielded a

174 How 1 Became a Sportsman.

fish. I was rather chagrined at my ill-hick,
and had only one more cast to make, when I
felt the well-known electric shock, and away
went a good fish, taking out a good bit of
hne. I was standing on some hatches, the
water being a good depth below me. After a
time, and two or three grand jumps clean
out of the water, showing him to be in rare
condition (but I was not to be done in that
way), I lowered the point of my rod every time
he jumped, — this jumping took the metal out of
him, — and very soon after I got my fish dead
beat, and he came floating on the top of the
water. The pool was surrounded by bushes,
and how to get him out I knew not ; so at last
made up my mind to trust to the strength
of the tackle ; so I got hold of the line, and
very gingerly and cautiously lifted him up till
he was on the hatches at my feet. He was
very firmly hooked, or I should never have
got him up ; it was a ticklish job, but he was
basketed.

I was back in time for breakfast, much
delighted at my success, though I lost my
bet, as the fish was short of the weight by
a quarter of a pound.

The Big Trout. 175

There were not very many trout in the
stream, but what there were generally ran
a good size ; and in one particular place I had
often seen a very large trout. He was always
in some deep water underneath a large hawthorn
bush, which grew close down to the water.
I had often tried my friend with worm, a live
minnow, and the natural May-fly, but never
could succeed in getting him to look at
anything ; for it was very difficult to get
my bait into, or on, the water without being
seen myself. He was a wary old gentleman,
and the sight of a twig moving aroused his
suspicions, and although he did not bolt off
like greased lightning, as most trout do, he
made himself scarce by dropping gradually and
quietly out of sight. This trout bothered me
a great deal, and I was determined to have
him somehow ; but how ? that was the question,
which I turned over and over in my mind,
again and again, without coming to any satis-
factory conclusion ; when one morning there
were some shrimps for breakfast, and a happy
thought struck me. I wonder whether one
of these w^ould tempt my fastidious friend ; at
all events, thought I, I will make the attempt,

176 How I Became a Sportsmax.

and no sooner decided on, than I proceeded to
carry it out. I selected a few of the best
shrimps, and put them in a tin box; I selected
my finest and strongest gut, with a good-sized
hook, which I carefully tried the strength of
by fixing the hook into a soft piece of deal,
and giving a good hard, steady pull. All right,
no trout that ever swam can pull harder than
that ; and away I went.

It was a dull, rainy day in June, just the
day for fishing. I would not trust myself to
peer through the bushes to see if his highness
was at home ; indeed I proceeded on tip-toe
to within half-a-dozen yards of the bank, when,
having got all ready, I crawled towards the
bank, pushing my rod very carefully under-
neath the bush. I had only about a yard
of gut out beyond the point of the rod,
and it was with some difiiculty I managed to
get out another half-yard or so of line ; then
when I could see through the undergrowth of
weeds and nettles on the bank that my bait
was near the water, I lowered the point of the
rod, so as to allow the shrimp to sink about
two feet under water. Scarcely was it got to
that depth when I saw a flash, and at the same

\

The Big Trout. 177

moment felt a terrific tug. He had gone at it
instantly like a tiger, and went straight off
with it, taking out about twelve yards of hne.
" Now, old crafty, your last hour has come ;
you have eaten your first and last shrimp ; no
more turning up your nose at all my dainty
offerings." My first care was to get the rod
free from the hawthorn bush, which I succeeded
in doing; watching the direction the line was
in, I made out that the fish had gone across to
the other side of the stream.

" Come on," said I to my man (who w^as
behind with the landing-net), " you shall soon
have him in the net ; but be careful, whatever
you do, not to touch the line." The fish had
as yet made no signs. " I think," said I, " I
had better send the hook well into him, as the
skin of the shrimp is thick."

Relying upon my test of the hook and gut,
L gave a most vigorous upward stroke or turn
of the wrist. Oh, Lor ! I shall never forget it :
the line flew out of the water, the shrimp with
the hook remained in the fish, and I never saw
him after. It was the jerk that did it, for the
gut had parted just where it was whipped on to
the hook. It served me perfectly right ; but

178 How I Became a Sportsmax.

the vexation and disappointment were not at
all lessened by knowing that it was entirely my
own fault. I often looked under that bush
afterwards, but never without a feeling of the
most intense disgust at my own stupidity and
clumsiness.

I remember once having a very odd adven-
ture with a salmon. I was staying at that
cheery little place, Lynmouth, North Devon,
when one showery morning I was walking
about with an umbrella ; the tide had nearly
gone out, and I saw something floundering
about just at the mouth of the river Lynn ;
the water was getting shallower every moment.
I waded in and found a good-sized salmon,
who had stayed a little too long, trying to
make his way out to sea. I tried to bag him
with the umbrella by way of a landing net,
and once succeeded in getting him into it ; but
he made very short work of it as a landing-net,
or for its original and more legitimate con-
struction, so I shut it up and began belabour-
ing him with it. He was in water nearly deep
enough to cover him, all but his back, and
upon that I showered blow after blow ; but the
umbrella being a light one, and the water

The Big Trout. 179

taking off half the effect, we had a terrible
scuffle ; the fish making desperate efforts to
get away. At last I managed to deal him a
regular cracker, and he gave up the ghost, and
I hauled him out, a fish of over fourteen
pounds.

Late in the season a few salmon may be got
up the Lynn by fishing with a good-sized
worm. A short, stiff rod and strong tackle
are necessary, and you must give it him pretty
stiff, or he will surely make his way down to
the sea. It is not a very artistic way of fishing
for salmon ; but when you are at Lynmouth
you must do as others do, that is to say, if you
want to catch salmon. Apart from the fish-
ing, Lynmouth is one of the most delightful
sea-side villages I know.

- I don't think there is any excuse for catch-
ing trout with a net, and yet I used to assist
in doing so once a year, for many years ; but
my assistance did not, I confess, go much
beyond the looking-on part. One of the kind
of men called gentlemen farmers used to have
a fishing party every year, about the beginning
of June, just before the hay harvest com-
menced, and a very enjoyable day it was.

i8o How I Became a Sportsmax.

except for the killing trout in such an in-
glorious fashion ; but the true fact of the case
was, the owner was no fisherman, but was very-
fond of the fun of netting, besides which, he
was a hearty good fellow, and liked to assemble
a party of kindred friends, and make a day
of it, and we did too. We used to assemble,
six or seven of us, about eleven o'clock ; the
stream was not far oiF, so we set to work
at once ; but it must be told in all fairness,
that it was so overgrown with bushes and
brambles that it was almost impossible to fish
it in any way with a rod and line. I have
seen one man in my day, and only one, who
would have thrown a fly there, and that was
old David Jones of Ross, whose equal I have
yet to see. The stream was shallow nearly all
the way up, and the flew nets were put in
about fifty yards apart, and the stream was
well beaten in between. There were a few
deep holes, in which the casting-net was used?
where generally a good fish was hauled out.
There was sure during the day (particularly
after lunch) to be a little rough horse-play
going on, and one day one of the party
thought he should like to try a throw with

The Big Trout. i8i

the casting-net ; it hitched in a button at
the back of his coat, and in he went head-
long.

At one o'clock, sharp, luncheon was an-
nounced, and we all adjourned to the well-known
spot, a large elm, and there was spread out
a first-rate feed, to which ample justice was
done ; then cigars and pipes, and a most
enjoyable idle hour on the grass, when work
was commenced again, and kept on till five.
Every fish under a pound (fishermen's weight,
of course) was put back in the stream if it
was not injured by the net. We usually got
ten or twelve brace of first-rate fish ; but I
could not help regretting their capture in that
way, as they would have afforded excellent
sport for a whole season to any lover of
the art; but, however, so it was, and I enjoyed
the fun with the rest. An excellent dinner,
?such as only a first-rate farm-house, where the
mistress superintends the cooking, can turn
out ; the cream and butter, fresh and pure,
which are such essentials to good cookery, not
being spared. A cigar in the open air after
dinner, and a rubber or game at Van John, as
it was called, wound up a really pleasant day.

1 82 How I Became a Sportsman.

I had some capital trout-fishing one season,
when staying at a country-house about nine
miles from that well-known fishing locality,
Hungerford. The fish did not run very large,
but I caught several over a pound, and saw
one fish of quite four pounds. I was told
a curious circumstance about this stream.
Two years before I was there, it, being on
the chalk, had entirely disappeared and re-
mained quite dry for many months. Now,
where did this big trout come from ? as he
must have been at least four years old. I have
always understood that fish do not go far
from the place where they are bred, and I
know that fish have homes, and stick to them ;
for if you know a trout to go to a certain
place when disturbed, he invariably makes
for the same place, what country people call
his " hoult," and if you kill him, within a very
short time his late residence is sure to be
occupied by another, but not quite so big a
fish, seeming to bear out the old lines —

" They shall take who have the power,
And they shall keep who can."

As long as the larger and more powerful fish
was in existence, he held his castle against all

The Big Trout. 183

intruders ; but the moment he is vanquished,
it was occupied by a less powerful member of
the finny tribe.

I have often heard of dogs catching fish,
and while I was at this place 1 saw a very
clever retriever catch two trout in a shallow
stream, and was told that he often performied a
similar feat.

Trout are occasionally found living entirely
by themselves, without having any others of
the breed anywhere near them ; how to account
for this I do not know. They must, I
suppose, somehow or other have wandered
away from their own locality, and not being
able, or perhaps not inclined, to make their
way back again, have thus been forced to live
the life of a recluse. The only solution I can
efFer is, that they may have been swilled down
by a flood ; but in a general way they know
how to guard against that, and betake them-
selves to pools, and such shelter as may
be afforded by stones and pieces of rock.

I remember two instances of solitary or
hermit trout. One occurred in the river from
which I take my " nam de plume,'' in a part
where there were no trout within several miles ;

184 How I Became a Sportsmax.

and where the water was very deep, forming
a mill-head. A tonkin across the stream had
to be repaired, and the water was let off,
leaving one deep hole; some people dragged it
with a net, and got out a trout which weighed
over three pounds. Another was one for
which I can account, as I put him with several
others into a large pool in the river formed by
some hatches. The other iish which I had
put in I never saw again ; probably they fell
a prey to pike, of which there were a good
many ; but the one I have mentioned, being
two pounds when I put him in, was too big for
them. For two seasons I used to watch him
sailing about, when the water was still, under-
neath the hatches; I never tried to catch him.
One morning I saw a trimmer set on the
opposite bank, and asked the miller not to
leave it in at night. I was not afraid of my
trout taking it by day, but they will take
almost anything at night. The miller pre-
tended to be very proud of seeing the fish, and
apparently took as much interest in him as I
did. He said, " No fear of his taking that ;
it is a big roach, which I zet to catch a jock."
But I am afraid that my mentioning the night

The Big Trout. 185

bait put it into his head to do the very thing
he promised not to do, for my poor trout was
never seen afterwards — by me, at all events.

In walking down Piccadilly this afternoon,
I saw in a picture-dealer's shop-window four
new paintings which very much pleased me,
and I feel sure that they would send a thrill of
delight through the heart of any real fisher-
man. They are so full of life, character, and
so true to nature, and I feel sure that no man
could have painted them unless he had known
how to handle the rod ; whoever he is, he is an
artist as well as a painter. The subject is
" Salmon Fishing," which forms the top rung
of the ladder of the fisherman's craft, and bears
the same relation in that art as woodcock
shooting does to the gunner, or fox-hunting
-to the hunter. The four pictures are, " The
Rise," "The Leap," "The Struggle," and
" Landed," and each one is a perfect study.

i86

CHAPTER X.

FOX-HUNTING.

" The sport of kings, the image of war, without its guilt,
and only twenty-five per cent, of its danger."

So says our old friend Jorrocks, and, by Jove,
he is right ; it is truly a kingly sport, and
proud I am to see our own Prince of Wales
(whom I have seen in the field more than
once, and right well he goes, and appears
to enjoy it too), who will one day be king,
take such an interest in it.

I was once asked to shoot a fox. It happened
in this way. I was shooting with a friend at —
well, I won't mention the place, an out-of-the-
way one, where there were no fox-hounds, and
foxes were not preserved. In the course of
a day's covert shooting I caught sight of a
fox crossing a ride, and could not resist the

Fox-HuxTixG. 187

temptation of giving him a rattling "Tally
ho!"

" What was that ? " said my host.

" A fox."

"Why the devil didn't you shoot him?"

" Shoot him ! " said I, horrified (I believe
my hair stood up more firmly than it did
when I heard the owl) ; " shoot him ! I
would as soon think of shooting a baby."

'' Never mind," said he, " old David will have
him before to-morrow."

When I came down to breakfast next
morning that fox's brush was lying on my
plate, and a delighted smile (I thought it was
a broad grin of the ugliest kind) upon ev'ery-
body's face. I was not at all pleased ; I thought
it too bad a joke, and it took away my appetite.
> In my introduction I said, that these being
reminiscences of my earliest experiences only,
I should refrain from giving more than my
first appearance with and entry to fox-hunting,
that which is so well called par excellence " the
noble science ; " but I cannot after all quite
so easily dispose of so important and en-
grossing a subject (if my pen runs away with
me at any time I must beg the reader's pardon,

1 88 How I Became a Sportsman.

and trust he will forgive me ; I have been so
used to be run away with that I have got
into a habit of doing it myself, I fear) without
saying a few words about that glorious sport I
loved, and still love, so well. But they must
be few, as it is my intention at some future
time, if I have the approval of a kind public,
to give some of my later experiences, together
with some accounts of favourite horses, their
tempers and characteristics.

As I have, I think, before stated, my father
never would sell an old favourite horse, but
when they were worn out, had them shot and
buried, or, what is still better (for it is a pity to
waste good meat), sent them to the pack of
hounds with which the best part of their hves
perhaps, and that very likely not the least
pleasant part, had been passed ; for horses
hke the excitement of hunting and the music
of the hounds as well almost as their riders.
See what life the sound of a horn will put into
an old hunter if he hears it accidentally ; they
bring out their best powers, and excite a spirit
of rivalry amongst their kind as pleasing as it is
inspiriting to the riders on their backs. What
more then, I repeat, can the good old horse

FOX-HUNTING. 189

desire or deserve, in the way of a decent
and respectable funeral, than through the jaws
of his late and dearly loved companions in the
chase ?

Having had, then, so good an example set
me, I did justice to my bringing up by follow-
ing it ; and whenever I had horses that I had
ridden for several years, when they got worn
out or otherwise unfit for service, I had them
shot, or did it myself; and the latter was for
two reasons — first, that, there should be no
reason to suspect that the horse would be used
in any way through any mistake ; and the next,
that I could make sure that no cruelty was
practised. I believe that knackers generally
stab them in the heart with a long knife.
This no man who valued his horse would like
to have happen to him. The shooting of a
horse is a very easy matter : it only requires a
steady hand and good nerves, and if done in
the right place, either in the forehead or just
behind the root of the ear, his death is so
sudden and so painless, that I have often seen
them drop stone dead, and not move a muscle
after the shot was fired. Now, I have had
and shot a good many horses of my own, and

190 How I Became a Sportsmax.

also shot a good many for different friends,
who asked me to do so, not because they
thought I hked the job, but because they felt
sure I should do it without making a mess
of it.

My pocket was never a very large one, and
therefore I preferred horses of the " have been "
sort, that is to say, horses of figure and char-
acter, perhaps one that has carried " my lord,"
the " Hon. Crasher," or " young Rapid," and
made his mark in the shires, but had become
somewhat too slow or too sticky for such first-
flight customers, or perhaps one that had been
scored in a place or two, or might be fired all
round or otherwise blemished ; and although
out of such horses a great deal of work may
be got, and a great deal of sport seen, still
they are not the horses men ride who can
afford to give their two to three (or even
more) hundred guineas for. I will take a
horse that has had his maybe five or six
seasons in such first-rate and brilliant com-
pany, but is now to be given up. I am on
the look-out for such an animal, and I get
him for, say, forty to fifty guineas ; he will
carry me to hounds, with good riding, careful

FOX-HUNTING. 191

nursing, and good luck, for many seasons in
the provinces, though he may not be good
enough for the crcme de la creme of the shires.
I get a good-looking horse, with blood, form,
and breeding, a bold and safe jumper, a fine
mover under you when on the turf (though
perhaps he might be a bit dicky on the road),
and all over a gentleman. Could I get carried
as well by buying a fifty pound horse, which
never was nor will be worth any more ? I think
not ; at all events, that is my opinion, after
many years' practice.

I will give an illustration of another sort
of animal. Five-and-thirty years ago my
sister gave me a good-looking roan mare,
which had come into her possession under
peculiar circumstances, which it is not neces-
sary to mention here. She was about three
parts bred (by a well-known provincial horse
♦called Shortwaist), and at the time I got her
about four years old, fifteen three in height, a
rare galloper, with very strong quarters, but
with short thick shoulders. These two last,
with her tremendously high courage and fiery
temperament (though perfectly good-tempered),
made her a dangerous animal to ride. She

192 How I Became a Sportsmax.

rushed at her fences, was a very big jumper,
as her immense back and large quarters gave
her very great power ; but her low bad
shoulders made her jump sometimes short,
and if there was a wide ditch on the other
side, very likely you would come a regular
crowner, whereas a good, long-shouldered horse
would have extended himself, or had a leg
to spare. It was not that she could not jump
wide enough, for I have known her to cover
five-and-twenty feet over a common sheep-
hurdle in cold blood. She was, as I have said,
a rusher at her fences, and if you would not
let her go when you got near it, she would
be up in the air plunging about, and some-
how or other would have the fence, be it
what it might; and she would have gone at
a house on fire, and would, in her blind
recklessness, jump upon anybody or anything.
I have nearly knocked out of their saddles
more than one man, jumped once upon a
harrow, and another time into a faggot pile
stuck up on end. She got at last more tem-
perate, and became very clever, was first-rate
at stone walls or timber, and there was nothing
in height that she could not jump; but a wide

FOX-HUNTING. 193

ditch on the landing side was very often a
cause of coming to grief. But before she
became clever and handy, how many and what
severe falls did I not get with her. I think I
had as many falls with her as with all the
horses I have had put together, and they have
not been a few, and some of them I feel and
bear the marks of to the present time. I rode
this animal for seventeen seasons, and never
knew her beaten ; she was never sick, sorry,
or had a dose of physic. When she was
about eight years old I was bothered a good
deal to sell her, and was offered seventy
guineas for her (but I dare say I could have
had more), which others beside myself con-
sidered a fair price ; but I would not sell her,
as she had been given to me. I bred from

1ier when she was twenty-iive years old, and
she threw twin fillies. When she was twenty-

, seven I shot her, or, rather, had her shot,
for I had had her so long I could not find
it in my heart to do the deed myself.

I did not intend this to be a chapter on
horse-shooting, which I dare say some of my
readers will think it is. I dare say every one
has heard at some time or other a man say of

194 How I BeCxVme a Sportsman.

some extra good horse, he was a big-hearted
one. Now, I believe this is hterally true, for I
have noticed over and over again, that many
a real good one, that had the pluck and
power to go at best pace through dirt and
clay, was found to have, when opened, a much
larger heart than ordinary ; it was so in the
case of the roan mare I have mentioned, and
many others I could particularize.

Now, the conclusion I wish to draw from
all I have said is this — that a man of small
or moderate means can get more sport and
be better carried by what is called a good
screw than in any other way. Talking of
screws reminds me of a good story told
of a certain well-known captain, commonly

called Bob M . The captain at one time

was not quite so well off as he is now (and
I am heartily glad that he is, as a better
sportsman, a more congenial companion, or a
better fellow never lived), and used to ride
good-looking, well-shaped horses, but they
were of the " have been " stamp. His stud
groom was a queer fish, a thorough York-
shireman, and was apt to speak in plain
language, and to put it down in black and

FOX-HUNTIXG. 195

white as well ; for in writing to his master on
one occasion about corn bills or some other
necessary matter, he put a P.S. at the bottom
of the letter — " Sir, the screws are well." Cool
and laconic.

I remember reading somewhere or other,
though I cannot at the present moment call
to mind where it was that I read it, a remark
that you would find more really good fellows
at the covert-side than you would in any
other assembly of a like number of men in
any other place ; and I firmly believe this
to be substantially true, though all men you
see out hunting are not sportsmen ; the very
fact of their being there goes far to prove
that they are there with the idea of their
being thought or fancying themselves so. And
what a thoroughly English scene is that same
covert-side, with its brilliant array of mostly
, well-dressed, well-mounted men, from the tip-
top aristocrat, with his faultless bit of pink,
his immaculate and well-fitting leathers, his
highly-polished boots, his bright, long-necked
spurs, mounted on his good-looking, powerful
thorough-bred hunter, both of them looking
as cool and unconcerned as if an immediate

196 How I Became a Sportsmax.

gallop across country was the last thing
they thought of, to the quiet-looking man
in a black coat and white neck-cloth, as clean
as a new pin, riding a sporting-looking grey,
with a very corky look about him, and slightly
wide and ragged hips, down to the stout
little gentleman on a corresponding cob, who
will gallop down the lanes and scramble
through the fences all day in the wake of
the better mounted and more pretentious
customers, all the time fancying he is hunting,
and who will be sure to talk louder afterwards,
have gone at a better pace, jumped more and
bigger fences than anybody else. All is quiet,
business-like, and gentlemanly. Then look at
the hounds, as there they sit or stand,

In all their beauty's pride,

with their quiet and staid demeanour, with
their long, sagacious, judge-like faces, looking
at this moment as if a fox would be quite safe
in their midst. The master is having a word
with the huntsman, many of the real sports-
men critically examining the hounds. All at
once the word is given to move off, and away
trots the first whip, followed by the hounds,

Fox-HuxTixG. 197

with the huntsman in their midst ; the}-^ go
very quietly to the covert, which perhaps
is a fine patch of gorse on the side of a
sloping hill in a crack country. The whip
canters off to take up his post at some quiet
corner, as much out of sight as possible. The
hounds, still keeping close to the huntsman,
begin to look all alive, and at the least sound
of the huntsman's voice, or a slight wave
of the hand, they bury themselves in the
gorse, and nothing is to be seen of them
except a waving stern or two, and now and
then a hound jumping a bush which he cannot
get under, with his brilliant-coloured coat
flashing in the sun. A whimper or two is
heard, then a deep note proclaiming a find.
In a moment the whole pack joins in the
glorious cry.

'' Heav'ns ! what melodious strains !
How beat our hearts, big with tumultuous joy ! "

The crash of music has come, the fox is
found, and is now fairly on foot. The field
behave admirably; they are stationed at the
top of the gorse, under the eye of the master,
where they can see and hear all that is going
on; but not a movement do they make. The

198 How I Became a Sportsmax.

huntsman is forcing his horse through the
gorse, whether he likes or not. He presently
gives them a cheer ; he has evidently seen
the fox. The cry of the hounds is still heard,
making their way down to the opposite corner
to that where the whip is stationed. All at
once they are perfectly quiet ; the fox has
turned, and they have overrun it. No, the
field can see the whip's cap in the air, but no
sound comes from his lips ; he is watching the
fox going away right across the open, and
it is not until the fox disappears over the
crest of some rising ground that he claps
on his cap, and gives a rattling, unmistakable
scream. But the horsemen have seen the fox
as well, and are all alive and impatient for
a start. Hardly is the whip's " holloa away "
ended, before the huntsman is out of the
gorse. He had followed the hounds down.
The whip is going, and points to the direction
in which the fox has gone; but it is hardly
necessary, for first one hound then another
appears, each one puts his nose to the ground
and feels for the line. The huntsman gives
one toot of his horn, and every hound is
out of the gorse ; they seem with one accord

FOX-HUNTIXG. 199

to sniff the intoxicating vapour the fox has
left behind, and away they go, heads up and
sterns down, to the most beautiful music that
mortal ear ever heard.

By this time the field are on their legs, all
is hurry skurry and bustle. Where is now
the quiet-looking swell, the unimpassioned
Parson on the grey ? Why sweeping down
like an avalanche, with twenty others of a
like stamp, the regular first flight of some of
the finest riders and best horses in England,
all determined to be first, followed by a crowd
of less determined and not quite so well-
mounted horsemen ; but all anxious and
eager to be going in the best way they can.
Where out of England can such a sight
be seen ? Nowhere in the wide world. It
is a scene to make the blood of the most
phlegmatic course through their veins at
double-quick pace, to thrill through their
hearts to the very core. The hounds have
now been brought to their noses, and are
fairly settled on their fox ; the field are after
them as hard as they can lay legs to the
ground. But where am I ? — if I had been
a fox-hound I should have been drafted for

200 How I Became a Sportsman.

a skirter or a babbler long ago. I am con-
tinually getting off the line, going away at
score, or babbling away on some fresh
scent.

I believe I said I was going to give the
actual experiences of a young sportsman — a
boy, — and boys were boys in my day, and
not the little men they are now or apt to
be, — and here am I very nearly describing a
splendid run in a fine country ; but I am
brought up all at once with the unpleasant
reflection that I have seen the meet, the
draw, the find, and here am I left standing
by the side of the gorse, without even the
advantage of being mounted on my old pony
to scramble after them ; and here I must give
it up, as the last of the rush has just disap-
peared in the distance. Oh, dear ! oh, dear !
I must give it up for the present, hoping at
some future time to give the run in full.
But then it must be one in which I took a
part.

I shall now very shortly have to bid the
reader farewell (for a time only, I hope) ; but
before doing so, I will give one anecdote to
prove that fox-hunters of the present day

FOX-HUNTIXG. 201

are not the mere hunting, drinking, hard-
riding sort of men that many think — no, I ivont
say t/iin/i, I will rather say have thought — who
have only heard of them or known them at
a distance, whatever may have been the
character of many of the fox-hunting gener-
ation of half a century ago ; and even then
they were not all of the Squire Western
stamp, take Mr. Meynell for instance, the
father of fox-hunting. The present fox-hunter
is a gentleman in every sense of the word ; and
at no previous time was the noble science so
well understood, or were there so many well-
mounted, well-educated, and well-intentioned
men in all the relations of life assembled to
take part in it, as there are at an English
covert- side at the present day.

Now for my story of Mr. Assheton Smith,
well known as one of the best huntsmen and
finest riders of his day. After much con-
•troversy it has been decided that to Mr.
Assheton Smith is due the invention of gun-
boats, now so much in use in our own and
other navies. Our fleet stood in great need
of such help while it lay helpless off Cron-
stadt during the Russian war.

20 2 How I Became a Sportsmax.

" Some years since," says the author of
Mr. Smith's ' Memoirs,' " when the Duke of
Welhngton was staying at Tedworth, Mr.
Smith communicated to the great captain
his notions respecting gun-boats. The Duke
listened, as he ahvays did, with attention to
Mr. Smith's suggestions, but gave no opinion
at the time respecting the subject of them.
Next morning, as they were walking on the
terrace after breakfast, the Duke said, ' I have
been thinking there is a good deal in what
you said last night about these gun-boats,
and I should advise your writing to the first
lord of the Admiralty,' which Mr. Smith did,
but received no answer. Some time after,
when walking down Regent Street, he met
the first lord, whom he knew personally,
and asked him in the course of conversation
if he had received his letter containing sug-
gestions for introducing gun-boats ? The
first lord replied, ' That he had, but that the
Admiralty could not pay attention to all the
recommendations made to them.' Upon this
Mr. Smith took off his ^ hat, and turning away
with a stately bow, observed, ' What his Grace
the Duke of Welhngton considered worthy

Fox-HuxTixG. • 203

of attention I think your Lordship might at
least have condescended to notice.' "

Yet within ten years from that time, one
fleet of our formidable ' Vixen Craft ' was at
sea, and another being fitted out for service.
Little perhaps did the spectators, who proudly
gazed upon the swarm of their dark hulls
at Spithead, know that the projector of them
was a fox-hunter, and that to a fox-hunter's
clear head and far-seeing eye was the gallant
Wildman mainly indebted for the single little
vessel (the 'Staunch') with which he demolished
four large junks in the Chinese seas. Yet
it has been said that Mr. Smith was a fox-
hunter, and nothing more. The verdict of
true Englishmen will be very different.

In these reminiscences I have said very
little about dogs. That is a subject upon
which I am most mad, and upon which I could
dilate till the end of time. I have thought
of dogs all day, dreamt of dogs all night ; in
fact, I am doggy to the backbone. I have
had dogs of all kinds (that is to say, sporting
dogs, for I leave other breeds out of the
question, as the "fancy" is not at all to
my taste), and I believe I have had upwards

204 How I Became a Sportsmax.

of a thousand in my day, many bad ones and
many good ones. I have kept otter hounds
and beagles, and at one time I had a very
nice and unique little pack, all black and tan.
Setters and spaniels are the dogs I like best
to shoot to and as companions ; but of all
breeds of dogs, I am of opinion, and I am
not alone, that there is no dog in the whole
wide world to compare for one moment with
a thorough-bred English fox-hound of the
present day. Look at him as he is drawn
on the flags, with his long, intelligent-
looking, high-crowned head and thoughtful,
clear brown eye, his fore legs straight as gun-
rods, his round, cat-shaped, compact feet, his
beautiful light neck set into sloping, racing-
like shoulders, deep chest, wide ribs, well-
arched loins, gaily carried sedge-feathered
stern, wide powerful quarters, well let down
hocks, his beautifully-coloured, brilliant-look-
ing coat, and added to all, his magnificent and
stately carriage ; again, T say, there is nothing
in canine shape that can come near the fox-
hound. But what a different animal he is
when a fox is before him : he is then full
of activity, iire, and animation, from the time

FOX-HUNTIXG. 205

when the fox is first found in thick covert,
through which he tears regardless of all
obstructions^ till you see him with a breast-
high scent, going at best pace with his head
up and his stern down, racing across the open ;
then if he has in his energy overshot the scent,
the magnificent way in which he flings and
dashes to recover it ; or again, the patience
and perseverance with which he feels for .
and w^orks out a cold and stale scent, — all
are deserving and worthy of our highest
praise and deepest admiration. No w^onder,
then, the fox-hound is so highly prized ; no
w^onder men are enthusiastic about fox-hunt-
ing; no w^onder that men ride as they do to
see him w^ork. The cost is as nothing, the
trouble is as nothing, falls are as nothing,
difficulties are as nothing, when measured with
their joys and pleasures. May fox-hunting
;then flourish in all its glories till time shall
be no more.

I must now reluctantly take oflr* my cap and
bid my readers farewell, hoping that we may
meet again, if fortune should so favour me.
In doing so, I wdsh them, with all my heart,
health, strength, and nerve to enjoy the glorious

2o6 How I Became a Sportsman.

sport of fox-hunting, as I have myself en-
joyed it, and hope to do again ; but if the
fates should decree it otherwise, I will, deeply
thankful for the past, live upon the memory
of other days, and still struggle gamely on
till

'' The last scene of all, which ends
Thi5 strange, eventful history."

THE END.

Ji. Clay and Sous, Lotidon and Biutgay.