the firs and ash-poles, his glossy neck glowing in the
sunlight and his long tail floating behind. These last pleased me most,
for when the shot struck the great bird going at that rate even death
could not at once arrest his progress. The impetus carried him yards,
gradually slanting downwards till he rolled in the green rush bunches.

Then a hare slipped out and ran the gauntlet, and filled the hollow with
his cries when the shot broke his hindquarters, till the dog had him.
Jays came in couples, and green woodpeckers singly: the magpies
cunningly flew aside instead of straight ahead; they never could do
anything straightforward. A stoat peeped out, but went back directly
when a rabbit whose retreat had been cut off bolted over his most
insidious enemy. Every now and then Dickon's shot when he fired high cut
the twigs out of the ash by me. Then came the distant noise of the
beaters' sticks, and the pheasants, at last thoroughly disturbed, flew
out in twos and threes at a time. Now the firing grew fierce, and the
roll of the volleys ceaseless. It was impossible to jam the cartridges
fast enough in the breech.

A subtle flavour of sulphur filled the mouth, and the lips became dry.
Sunshine and gleaming leaves and sky and grass seemed to all disappear
in the fever of the moment. The gun burned the hands, all blackened by
the powder; the metal got hotter and hotter; the sward was poached and
trampled and dotted with cases; shot hissed through the air and pattered
in showers on the opposite plantation; the eyes, bleared and bloodshot
with the smoke, could scarce see to point the tube. Pheasants fell, and
no one heeded; pheasants escaped, and none noticed it; pheasants were
but just winged and ran wounded into the distant hedges; pheasants were
blown out of all living shape and could hardly be gathered up. Not a
word spoken: a breathless haste to load and blaze; a storm of shot and
smoke and slaughter.

CHAPTER VII

OBY AND HIS SYSTEM: THE MOUCHER'S CALENDAR

One dark night, as I was walking on a lonely road, I kicked against
something, and but just saved myself from a fall. It was an intoxicated
man lying at full length. As a rule, it is best to let such people
alone; but it occurred to me that the mail-cart was due; with two horses
harnessed tandem-fashion, and travelling at full speed, the mail would
probably go over him. So I seized the fellow by the collar and dragged
him out of the way. Then he sat