Devil's in it, I had forgot to cock my gun! and ere I could
retrieve my error, the bird had topped the bush, and dodged out of
sight, and off--"Mark! mark!--Tim!" I shouted.
"Ey! ey! sur--Ay see's urn!"
"Why, how's that, Frank?" cried Harry. "Couldn't you get a shot?"
"Forgot to cock my gun!" I cried; but at the self-same moment the quick
sharp yelping of the spaniels came on my ear. "Steady, Flash! steady,
sir! Mark!" But close upon the word came the full round report of
Harry's gun. "Mark! again!" shouted Harry, and again his own piece sent
its loud ringing voice abroad. "Mark! now a third! mark, Frank!"
And as he spoke I caught the quick rush of his wing, and saw him dart
across a space, a few yards to my right. I felt my hand shake; I had not
pulled a trigger in ten months, but in a second's space I rallied. There
was an opening just before me between a stumpy thick thorn-bush which
had saved the last bird, and a dwarf cedar; it was not two yards over;
he glanced across it; he was gone, just as my barrel sent its charge
into the splintered branches.
"Beautiful!" shouted Harry, who, looking through a cross glade, saw the
bird fall, which I could not.
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