The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-06-25

| utdNleT lOISbU anu IctChibS 'hO oPSA
place where l felt sure the previous
days slaughter of pheasants had oc-
cured; and just as my hand left the
WALL following my impulse OF search
over the shooting ground, my fingers
came ia contact with the bushy hair
of mans head am not exactly an
athlete, but that hair and the man
under it came up alongside OF that
demesne wall to nearly my own
height, as the Germans say, I'm au-
genblickw and instantly saw l had
taken, red-handed, tiue specimen of
the English poacher. The tact was all
the more interesting as | recognized
in the precious rascal one of the beat
ers" employed by milord's gaInekeep-
ers during the previous days sport.
He was a handsome, dirty, chunky
| fellow of twenty or thereabou,s, and
he knew how To beg as well as poach.
Not being specially Interested in en-
forciI & the game laws # England, it
occurred to lie | could utilize this par
Jicular misplaced natter both on
the lines OF acquiring information and
in the recovery of my note book. A
proper compact had no soonrr been
agreed upon than two of the poacher,s
| companions, agreeable to his signal,
appeared. One was q weakened OLD
man, spry as q cricket. and her was
lad OF perhaps fifteen years. The
latter at once produced what | had
made my quest for, and got a half
crown for his tiouble. Then in few
moments hasty explanation secured
a good idea of what hal been going
on in that quarter during the night.
All three had been employed by the
gamekeepers the previous day as
"baaters" and ''helpers," the latter to
watch for the falling birds and carry
them back to "the bags" A large
number were thus slowed away in Sc
cure coverts for the following nights
work. The poachers well knew that
after tho evenings tips, beer, pipes
and buastful stories in the servants
hall and harness room, every game
keeper would sleep soundly that night
if not another in the year. They
were, therefore, over the deInense wall
and at work long before mid
night. Their outfit was sim
pie and inexpensive. A strong
rore about twelve feet long with
triple nooses, one in the middle well
bound for securing fastening on tie
jagged wall coping, and another at
each end, answered for ladder. A
hand cart, the wheels wound with
staw and rags to prevent noise and
lessen the trail, with a fourth man be-
side it as ntinel, was brought
along for carrying away the plumber.
The three who entered the grounds
had long, 1.-the po'es. each bulls eye
lantern, and between them sulphur or
some such stuff and matches for max
ing smudges. They knew every inch
of ground beaten the day before;
and also that the clamor and fright
had broken up the ruck1 or covey iuto
detached files of pheastntS, and that
these would retreat as high as posi-
bic 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 pheasants within them, smudged
them iuto half insensibility and dellb
erately knocked them from their
perches, dispatching them the mo-
ment they fell by sinking their beast
ly thumbs in the brain of the hefud-
died birds. The work of gathering
those which had been stolen from the
"bag" the previous day was left until
the break of dav, and was just about
completed as | had come upon the
scene, d, zens went over the wall iutO
the waiting cart in the few ninu eS of
my investigation. The poles, the lad
and the little old man followed.
AS the burly fellow | had caught fol-
lowe these, and he was still astride
the wall where he had pounded the
glass away and daubed a covering of
hard clay, asked him how mary they
had probably taken Illus doant |
rightly know" was his modest and |
hoarsely whispered rejoinder; "'likes |
there be nigh onto forty bracew Then
pulling his iorelock and winking
wisely, he disappear, d. The noosed |
rope slid gently after hin, and heard |
the swishy sound of the straw wrapped |
wheels grow fainter, and finally silent,
as | set out on my return to the castle
the way l came; the meantime runi-
mating on the many ways still open to
the nobility of this land to be, without
effort to themselves, of vast humaui-
tartan service to the gentle English
peasant of the poems and books.
Few people in America, or for that
udCJcT uoTe, nave dLy dueQuhto luel
of the tremendous sums annually ex-
pended in the preservation and taking
OF game in England, Ireland and Scot
land. On former occasion l had
need to secure the figures for Scotland
alone. Hunting and fishing with
attendant expenses annually cost
British sportsnen in Scotland $50. 000-
600! What must the sum total conse-
quently be for the three Kingdoms?
Here then is at once found the real
origin of poachers aud poaching.
Every Briton is a born sportsman.
Hence with every square rod
of ground under lease as
shooting" and every lineal rod of
shore of beck, burn, river, loch or har-
Dor under lease to somebody as fish
ing" millions are debarred by the Sc
verest game laws in the world from
any use whatever of the rod and gun,
except by stealth and illegally Al
most every one of the millions be-
comes quasi poacher, on opportunity,
as against the few thousands of privi- !
legged class, and not unwilling
poachers' agents in the disposition or
consumption of the illegally secured |