The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-04

! ment seat forming no obstacle to its prog
reSs.
He was. as usual, a little drunk, and he
hailed me as though | We're a ship.
'Ahoy. Major Yeates!' he shouted.
bringing himself up with a lurch against
my cart.
It's hunting you should be, in place of
! sending poor devils to Jail"
But where are all the foxes?' said /.
.Begor. ! don't know no more than your
| Honor
And Shreelane-that there used to be
| as many foxes in it as there's crosses in Il
yard OF check!
Well. we'll; I'll say nothin' for IT. only
that it's square.
That frosty evening was followed by
three others like unto ii, and a flight OF
woodcock came In.
| dispatched Il. Invitations to shoot and dine
on the following day to four of the local
j sportsmcn. among whom was. of course.
my landlord.
| remember that in my letter t" the latter
| expressed Il facetious hope that my bag
! of cock would be more successful than his
of foxes had been.
The answers tn my invitations We're not
what | expected.
All, WITHOUT so Iuutll d - Il thlNtlitltiii
regret. declined my invitation.
Mr.. Knox added that he hoped the bag of
cock would be to my liking. and thai I
need not be afraid" tina, the hounds would
trouble my Coperts any more.
Here was war! | sazed in stupeiaction at
the crooked scrawl in which my landlord
had declared it.
1t was wholly and entirely inexplicable.
and instead of going to sleep comfortably
over the fire and my newspaper. as a gem
tleman should. | spent the evening in ir-
ritated ponderinss over this bcwildering and
exasperating change of front on the part
OF my friendly squireens.
My shoot the next day was scarcely a
Success
| shot in the woods in company with my
g~amekeeper. Tim Connor, a gentleman
whose duties mainly consisted in limiting
the poaching privileges to his personal
friends, and whatever my ofense might
have been. Mr.. Knox could have wished me
no bitterer punishment than hearing the
unavailins shouts of Mark cock!" and see
ing my birds wiuging their way from the
coverts far out of shot.
Tim Common and l got ten couple between
us. 1t might have been thirty if my neigh
bors had not boycotted me for what l could
only suppose was the slackness of their
hounds.
/ was dns-tired that night. and l slept the
deep. Unsuitable sleep that / had earned. 1t
was somewhere about , a. NJ. that I was
gradually awakened by a continuous knock
ing. interspersed with mufied calls.
Great-Unc!e Mccarthy had never before
given tongue, and l freed one ear from
blankets To listen.
Then l remembered that Peter had told
me the sweep had promised TO arrive that
morning, and TO arrive early. Blind with
sleep and fury. l went to the passage win
dow, and thence desired the sweep to go to
the devil.
1t awaited me little.
For the remainder of the night l could
hear him pacing round the house. trying
the windows, banging at the doors and cali |
upon Peter Cadogan-
At s o'clock l had fallen into a troubled
doze. when Mrs. Cadogan knocked at my
door and impaired the information that the !
sweep had arrived.
We'll. for heavens sake, let him get ct
the chimneys and let me go to sleep" 1 an
swered. goaded to desperation, land YOU
may tell him from me that IL l hear llis
voice again I'll shoot him." /
subsequent events may pc prleny sum-
At $50 / was awakened anew by q thun- |
ferrous sound in the chimney, and a brick
into the fireplace, followed at a
short interval by two dead jackdaws end
heir nests.
AT s l was informed by Peter that there
was no hot water. and that he wished the
iivil would roast the same sweep.
A. l.gn rrha,, I am Ipu.,, % hrool-rnet l
here was no fire anywhere. and my coffee.
made in the coachhouse, tasted of SCOT.
1 put on an overcoat and opened my let
.ers.
About fourth or fifth in the uninteresting
reap came one in an egregiously disguised
hand.
Sir" it began. this is to inform you
our unsportsmanlike conduct has been dis
You have been suspected this good while
# shooting the Shreelane foxes; it is known
you do worse.
Parties have seen your gamekeeper 60
ng regular to meet the Saturday early train
It Salters Hill Station, with your gray
lOrse under a cart, and your labels on the |
,oxes, and we know as well as your agent
n Cork what 1t Is you have in those boxes.
Be warned in time.
YOUR WELLWISHER."
I read this through twice before its drift
'ecame apparent. and I realized that I was
.ccused Of improving my shooting and my
oy the simple expedient of selling
ny foxes.
Thai is to say. I was In a worse posi-
ion than If / had stolen a horse or muir
Mrs. Cadogan, or got drunk three
lines a week in Skebawn.
For a few moments I fell Into wild laugh
er, and then, aware that 1t was rather a.
'ad business to let a lie of this kind get
start. | sat down to demOlish the pre-
charge in a letter TO FURRY
lnox. |,
Somehow. as I selected my sentences. it
vas borne in upon me that, il the letter
poke the truth, circumstantia evidence was
ather against me.
Mere .ofty reputation would be unavail-
1g. and by my Internal Righteousness about
he woodcock had effectively filled in the
ase against myself.
AT all events. the first thing to do was
D have it out with Tim Conner. l rang the
ell. D.,
"Peter. is Tim Conner about the place?'
He is not, sir. l heard him say he was
ding west the hill to mend the bounds 9
Peters face was covered with SCOT. his +,
yes were red, and he coughed ostentatious- )
:. "The sweeps after breaking one OF his /,
rushes within in yer bedroom chimney.
he went on; hes above on the roof ,
ow. aud he'd be Thankful to you 10 go up {