The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-09-16 00:00:00

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

PARTRIDGE SHOOMIPG.—No. 5.

(Scene: A cross road,a solitary Individual sitting on • ,
stile,a fine pointer gazing up into his face. Time; First of
September, about 5 o'clock a.m. • weather crisp, yet
cloudy.] The individual is dressed like • sportsman,
but there is a raw look about him, and be is carefully
buttoning • glove upon his right hand. He is irritable
—he is kept waiting. I am the irritable one. I have
a right to be irritable; my digestion is bad. "Bother
these countrymen,exclairn I," addressing my dog, "ready
enough to make engagements, but Drone to bolt when
they shonld make play. Yesterday it was 'Ready ,
mind. iron Indian fellows are early birds, though !
still I Moll push you close." Very like purling one
elate ; even now five minutes late, and the morning
e
almost open to sight. A day /expect for such a
climate. What a devil of climate lobe sure, like that
old step-mother of mine starer in the same humour
long, and more frowns tt:ari smiles, a long way.—Good
dog, Don I ?give ine a pointer for September,old boy,like
you. Yea I You know all about it. Nose cool, cooler
than my step-mother's. That bit of raw beef that
loitering fallow Rivers advised me to give you last
night has done you no harm. Bother the fellow and
his advice; bow he does some down his experiences over
one. It is what I call boxing the ears of one's pride in
the moat impudent fashion. Where can Rivers be ? Ha I
here he comes with Juno. Mind and behave like •
gentleman to-day, Don, How quietly he glides along,
no hurry about him. Let ins look at theliine- Yes I
ten minutes behind time. I will pitch the sarcastic at
him in the least amiable voice ; yet I am half disposed
to be amiable, as I am a little afraid of him. " Hein I
Your early rising wont disagree with you, I expect,
N ow der Ritets.";'"Don't flurry yourself my boy,"
airmen the loiterer in an entry off-hand manner -
"excessive punctuality is a sign of nervousness, bad for
bagging gain°. !Punctual men are always fussy and
irritable ! liver, I expect; how's yours today ? Wont
nay I Never mind, don't hurry yourself, we shall be on
the ground by good daylight. Much dew this morning,
Wilson?" "No." "What afraid of damp stockings?"
"Who cares for dews" I answered, with a scoff.
"I do," replied Rivers, "on a September morn-
ing, because the birds don't like it. It causes
them to wander for dry footing, as you *mild do,
Judge, if you had to squat down o'nighte on
your ten bore tots." I thought of this;there was some-
thing in it. No wonder in former seasons, on wet days,
and dewy mornings, tramping throngh swedes and
long gram, was such unproductive work. Rivera, you
see, Is a knowing old sportsman. He is about forty,
with not an ounce of flesh to epa ' ht limbed,
not a long fellow, keen grey eye, round,pleasant,
weather-beaten face, and great rough-red hands. He
never wore gloves, and never felt sold. Yes I Rivers
r was an agriculturist of the right mettle, and conse-
quently a thorough sporternan,and I—l might as well own
It, becanse you will soon see it—was a griffin. He was
• oepital shot. I was. • very indifferent one. I bail, I
was conceited enough te think, the best social position,
the best bald piece, but what sportsman ever respected
heeba,nnleas they made a fellow held his gun straight?
I am already a Judge in one of the Supreme Courts in
India, home on furlough. Nowyou knew all about the
liver, and the digestion, and the consequent irritability.
Rivers is- a judge of a horse, • calf, a pig; and
never (lid much else bet ride, and shoot, and
Bye that sort of life, yet he snubbed me every day—
aseumed mysterious airs of oonaquence about things
mesaionl; called me "My Judgship." and presumed
upon his local cottsequenoe. He had a good estate,
was • espied host, and we were fast friends. Sometime*
however, when I could not do as I wiahed in the
sporting way, I would have given up all my assumed
advantages nver him to have been able to acquit
myself with only half the credit he did, I was'ut
envious, or jealous. No, in my heart I felt a sort Of
pride in his achievements. The simple fact was,
Rivers was a good fellow • be would let me claim a bird
whenever I liked, when there was a doubt in my mind
it a *banes shot of mine bad not kidnapped one he had
shot at; ead he always said,in talking about our bag, "we
have done-so and so I Wikson Made a capital shot, an such
and inieh a place," and so on. Don't we appreciate a little
bit of generosity of this sort. Alla we fond of taking e. '
little tat of credit out of our neighbour's bag, and !
dropping it in our own. "TON to the front forward," '
cried Rivers. (He; evas always after a little bit of dry ,
humour.) "Your judgeship must desoend from the
bench !" (I was on the stile.) "and see if the waives
are worth powder and shot ill this country." A horrid
bit of sercasm this I "Why this direction?" I asked,
as we mowed along in a contrary line to what I had
exposited. "Your judgeship must know that after our
tramp yesterday, I just Look the outskirts of my
grenade, and lo! I found • couple of fine coveys within
my rights. I watched their flight—lt was their tumid
flight—and just where I did not expect thew to go.
This Was their feeding ground ; there was water where
they had been at work, and there was the spot where
they had baked at noontide, and also the
right soil for them to scratch and grovel. We
shall be mire to find them. I hope you
have straight powder, Judge?" I declined to reply to
hja impertinence. He was on his keen experiences. I
should never have noticed about the 'scratching' iiirl
'grovelling' had I lived twenty year in turnips or
fallow. Heigh ho! Men have diversities of gifts—some
are gold for nothing, others are good for victuals;
some for cheating, others for being cheating; brit seldom
art any of use good all round, or for the right thing
easily at the right moment. Rivers wee an excep-
tion. We drew on to the,fiella mentioned. I was in •
hurry, as nervous as aced, or a young girl at her first
Doming out, (though for *rat matter girls aent in no
ways yOung now ; and they seem* all to have come out
with .si vengeance, lcm; before their time), and was
beitingroff, nicking Dod,dash ahead, a little wild-like,
Ales& clod of dirt hit me he the back, and made me
lioiriorkndi In • disagreeable mood. The liberty—l never!
Rivers bad done it. lie held up his finger in a beckon.
lag was,' I was obllged to Moll moodily up to him
in ‘ a white rage. ' You'll never learn prudence,
Judge,* lie hissed through his teeth. "Good dog, Don.
steady." Juno was lying looking intentlYln his Los. She
knew every word her master was riving, I believe
truly—and on he went. "Do mind, ;is I have told you
a mere of times, we mast not be flittent from each
other, mere then thirty yards, isid, in beating the
groutidi vie must not go hlundeging on WithoUt
thinking where we are going, but traverse the field
teoraways, giving the dogs the whole, or • siderwind, as
sit...renal* might dictate ; and we must beat carefully, •
for birdie will lie close tido morning." I nodded. I felt
Rivers ipoke the truth, but I had sot quite got over the
indigni y of having that sled mark on my back. Fancy
if a wretched Sepoy, about to be tried by me, had seen
iter tb• lawyer that waa going to defend him? However,
Rivers toes hie hand in quite a graceful attitude, and Don
(the wrktoh had a sense about Whkd was his sporting
muter, although he weal& at toy bread and follow my
aspire non-shooting dam) iss beautifully obedient to
bit, ouflnand, and Juno too; aid the Judge—yea! I

was as tractable as either of them; and see, we advance.
Don throws up him bead arid feathers, Juno takes the
lead, and in less than a minute is a fixture. "Good
dog !" Rivers just drops Irons his lips. Whirr.! whirr!
whirr, it is. Confound my tervee, I was half tumbling
backward ; one barrel went off rather at random ; the
next a bird fell. Rivers had made his points right and
left, .1 was about to rush in ; I never could resist the
iuipulse. lam not sums, in spite of Rivera's talk, if
mine is not the but plan, to make mire &Vence of what
is down. Howevar,, up 'tint the baud with thu most
imperious gestnre. Ohe would think I wee about to com-
mit some dmialy mune by moping, Alld I was obliged to
stand stlll. I really felt hot and small. " Mark" wait
all the mastermind said, and sure enough the covey
settled down at the extremity of the field. Then Rivers
loads, and quietly walks up and picks up his birds, and
says to me, sa if hewere speaking to Juno, "Seek bird,
Judge." Well, I did as I was bade, but for the life of
rue I could not fiad the wretched article. I crossed and
re-crossed tho mangold, and wee in a perfect whirl of
disgust ; when Rivers, who was ten yards to the left,
tossed my bird to rue, saying, "Next time,you firo keep
one eye open, Judge, at all events."
.(To be Continua)