Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-21

previous days battue, by following
to the right the demesne wall
which must lead to the little patch of low,
open copse, when the pheasants had been
number of whom, noted for their wood
craft and who were loungers at the near
village, had been pressed into service. The
wall surrounding the demesne was of rough
stone and rubble, conical at the top, its crest
being rendered seemingly impossible by
murderous pieces Of broken glass embedded
in the mortar. It was hardly daylight, and
thick mist rendered ordinary objects still
more indistinct. / therefore simply fol-
lowed the wall closely, now and then touch
ing it with stout walking stick had taken
with me from my chamber, but oftener
touching it gently at intervals with my
hand.
I was not long in passing the line of
heavier forest and reaching the open place
where l felt sure the previous days
slaughter of pheasants had occurred; and
my impulse Of search over the shooting
ground, my fingers came in contact with
the bushy hair of a mans head. am not
exactly an athlete, but that hair and the
man under it came up alongside Of that
demense wall to nearly my own height,
as the Germans say, Sim augen-
blick!" and instantly saw I had taken,
rou-uduucu, uno SpcclmeH Oh tuo EHSuSu
poacher. The fact was all the more inter-
esting as recognized in the precious ras-
cal one Of the s'beaters'' employed by
Milord's gamekeepers during the previous
days sport. He was a handsome. dirty,
chunky fellow Of twenty or thereabouts,
and he knew how to beat as well as poach.
Not being specially interested in
enforcing the game laws of England. it
occurred to me could utilize this parti-
mar ssy,1ic r,J1 co1 hot ho
lines Of acquiring information and in the
recovery Of my notebook. A proper COM
pact had no sooner been agreed upon than
two of the poacher's companions, agreea-
bic to his signal, appeared. One was a
weakened old man, spry as cricket, and
the other was lad OF perhaps fifteen years.
The latter at once produced what I had
made my quest for and got a half-crown
Tor his trouble. Then in few moments
hasty explanation secured a good idea Of
what had been going on in that quarter
DURING THE NIGHT.
All three had been employed by the
gamekeepers the previous day as ''beaters"
and '.helpers," the latter to watch for the
falling birds and carry them back to s'the
bags" A large number were thus slowed
away in secure coverts for the following
nights work. The poachers well knew
that after the evenings tips, beer, pipes
and boastful stories in the servants hall
and harness room, every gamekeeper would
sleep soundly that night if not another in
the year. They were therefore over the
demesne wall and at work long before mid
night. Their outfit was simple and mex
pensive. A strong rope about twelve feet
long with triple moses, one in the middle
well bound for securing fastening on the
jagged wall coping, and another at each
end, answered for ladder. A hand cart,
the wheels wound with straw and rags to
prevent noise and lessen the trail, with
fourth man beside it as sentinel, was
brought along for carrying away the plum
der. The three who entered the grounds
had long 1.-the poles, each ssbull s-eye''
lantern, and between them sulphur or some
They knew every inch Of ground ''beaten"
the day before; and also that the clamor
and fright had broken up the rucks or
coveys into detached files Of pheasants,
and that these would retreat
as high as possible among the
branches of larch and fir. The fog, too,
was in their favor. All night long they
had methodically hunted out certain trees,
discovered the peasants within them,
smudged them into half insensibility and
knocked them from their
perches, dispatching them the moment they
fell by sinking their beastly thumbs in the
brain of the befuddled birds. The work of
gathering those which had been stolen from
the ''bag" the previous day was left until
the break of day. and was just about COM
pleted as had come upon the scene. Dozens
went over the wall into the waiting cart in
The few minutes of my investigation. The
poles, the lad and the little old man fol-
Owed. As the burly fellow I had caught
followed these. and he was still astride the
wall where he had pounded the glass away
md daubed covering of hard clay, asked
MIN how many they had probably taken.
Illus doan't rightly know" was his modest
md hoarsely whispered rejoinder; s''likes
here be nigh onto forty brace!'' Then
pulling his forelocl1 and winking wisely, he
disappeared. The noosed rope slid gently
lfter him, and l heard the swishy sound
If the straw-wrapped wheels grow
.ainter, and finally silent, as I set |
,ut on my return to the castle the way !
anne; the meanwhile Illuminating on
he many ways still open to the nobility of
his land, to be, without effort to them |
selves, of vast humanitarian service to the |
sentle English peasant of
THE POEMS AND BOOKS.
Few people in America, or for that mat |
er here, have any adequate idea of the ire |
nendous sums annually expended in the, |
reservation and taking of game in England, |
Ireland and Scotland. On a former occa- |
ion had need to secure the figures for |
o'-OVluaO diOiiC. AluheihE uiAu AoniiiS Will
attendant expenses annually cost British !
portsmen in Scotland Sc, 200, 0OOI What |
must the sum total consequently be for !
he three kingdoms7 Here. then, is at |
nee found the real origin of poachers and |
coaching Every Briton is a born sports |
nan. Hence. with every square rod of |
round under lease as a Shooting" aud |
very Eneal rod of shore of beck, burn,
liver, loch or harbor under lease to some |
,oay as a 'sfshing," millions are debarred |
" the severest game laws in the world |
rom any use whatever OF the rod and gun,
ave by stealth and illegally. Almost !
very one Of these millions becomes |
uasi poacher, on opportunity, as against |
he few, thousands of privileged class, and |
ot unwilling poachers' agents in the dis I
osition or consumption of the illegally Sc !
ured booty.
Low as is the scale of the professional
oacher, it must not be supposed that he is
prescribed outlaw. British newspapers
lways discuss him from his humorous side.
lis vocation is everywhere known among
illagers and countryside folk, and there |
re none so dastardly as to give him into |
he hands of officers. personally know of I
lany instances where poacher graduates
ave become gamekeepers. Other game
eepers often seek their friendship, rather |
nan their enmity, thus reducing ravages to
ne lowest limit. And there are well au- |
cases where Milford himself has |
obnobbed with them for lessons in cum
ing and woodcraft. Two of the most noted |
nd incorrigible of British poacbers infest
40 lochs and dper forests in the vicinity of 4