The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-07

-, of cock would be more successful
IN his of foxes had been.
mn crhe answers to my invitations were not
.,,a+ expected All without so much as
= conventional regret, declined my inyi-
ation. Mr.. Knox added that he hoped
tbo bag of cock would be to my liking,
and that l need not be afraid that the
,,o,nds would trouble my coverts any
moro Here was war, gazed in stupe-
foction at the crooked scraWl in which
~, landlord had declared it, 1t was
wholly and entirely inexplicable, and in
s+aad of going to sleep comfortably over
the fire and my newspaper as a gentle
man should. l spent the evening in irr1-
tated ponderings over this bewildering
and exasperatirg change of front on the
mart of my friendly squireens.
NV shoot the next day was scarcely a
,rocess | shot the woods in company
with my gamekeeper, Tim Conner, gen.
tle,nan whose duties mainly consisted in
limiting the poaching privileges to his
nersonal friends, and whatever my
offense might have been. Mr.. Knox could
have wished me no bitterer punishment
than hearing the unavailing shouts OF
s.Mark cock" and seeing my birds wing
ing their way from the coverts far out of
ehot Tim Conner and | got ten couple
between us: it might have been thirty
# NV neighbors had not boycotted me for
what I could only suppose was the slack
ness in their hounds.
| was dog-tired that night, and | slept
the deep. Unsuitable sleep that I had
that I was gradually awakened by con-
tinuous knocking, interspersed with
rouffled calls. Great-Uncle Mccarthy had
never before given tongue, and l freed
one ear from blankets to listen. Then
| remembered that Peter had told me the
sweep had promised to arrive that morn
ing, and to arrive early. Blind with
sleep and fury, l went TO the passage
window, and thence desired the sweep to
90 to the devil. 1t availed me little.
For the remainder of the night I could
hear him pacing round the house, trying
the windows, banging at the doors and
calling upon Peter Cadogan. At o'clock
had fallen into a troubled doZe. when
Mrs. Cadogan knocked at NV door and
impaired the information that the sweep
had arrived.
well, for heavens sake. let him get
at the chimney3 and let me go to sleep,
answered, goa1cd to desperation, "and
you may tell him from me thai If hear
his voice agai I'll shoot hiIn."
Subsequent events may be briefly sum-
married. At 1870 1 was awakened anew
by a thunderous sound in the chimney
and brick crashed into the fireplace
followed at a short interval by two dead
iackdaws and their nests. At 1 was
informed by Peter that there was TO hot
water, and that he wished the divil would
jroast the same sweep. At $50, when ]
came down to breakfast, there was nc
fire anywhere, and my coffee, made in
the coach house. tasted of SCOT | put or
an overcoat and opened my letters
About fourth or fifth in the uninterest-
ing heap came one in an egregiously dis
| guised hand.
Sir" it began, "this is to inform you
| your unsportsmanlike conduct has beer
discovered. You have been SUSPECTED
this good while of shooting the Shree-
lane foxes: it is known now you dc
! worse. Parties have seen your game
| Keeper going regular to meet the Sat
| urday early train at tiers FIJI sta.
! ton, with your gray horse under a cart
and your labels on the boxes. and We
| know as well as your agent in Cork what
it is you have in those boxes BC
warned in time.-Your WeIlwisher."
| / read this through twice before it:
! drift became apparent, and / realized tina
l was accused of improving my shooting
and my finances by the simple eXpedien
of selling my foxes. That is to say,
was in a worse position than if l hac
stolen horse or murdered Mrs. Cado.
gan, or got drunk three times week il
| Skebawn.
For a few moments I fell into wild
! laughter, and then. aware that it wa:
/ rather a bad business to let lie of thi,
kind get start, l sat down to demolisl
the preposterous charge in a letter t.
FURRY Knox. Somehow, as I selected
| my sentences, it was borne in upon m,
that, If the letter spoke the truth, cir
cumstantial evidence was rather agains
me. Mere lofty reputation would h,
unavailing, and by my Internal facetions
ness about the woodcock had effectivel.
filled in the case against myself At al
events, the first thing to do was to hav,
it out with Tim Conner. rang the bell
Peter, is Tim Conner about th
placer"
''He is not, sir. 1 heard him say h
was going west the hill to mend tn
bounds fence" Peters face was covered
with SCOT, his eyes were red. and h
coughed ostentatiously. 1.-THE sweep
after breaking one of his brushes withil
yer bedroom chimney, sir" he went on
hes above on the roof now. and he
be thankful to you to go up to him.
l followed him upstairs climbed tn
rickety ladder, and squeezed through tn