"Not at all, Frank, not at all," answered Harry--"that is if you know
your ground; and know it to be well stocked; and have a good marker with
you."
"Oh! this is something new of yours--some strange device fantastical--
let's have it, pray."
"Certainly you shall; you shall have it now in precept, and in an hour
or two in practice. You see those stubbles on the hill--in those seven
or eight fields there are, or at least should be, some five bevies;
there is good covert, good easy covert all about, and we can mark our
birds down easily; now, when I find one bevy, I shall get as many
barrels into it as I can, mark it down as correctly as possible, and
then go and look for another."
"What! and not follow it up? Now, Harry, that's mere stuff; wait till
the scent's gone cold, and till the dogs can't find them? 'Gad, that's
clever, any way!"
"Exactly the reverse, friend Frank; exactly the reverse. If you follow
up a bevy, of quail mark you, on the instant, it's ten to one almost
that you don't spring them. If, on the contrary, you wait for half an
hour, you are sure of them. How it is, I cannot precisely tell you. I
have sometimes thought that quail have the power of holding in their
scent, whether purposely or naturally--from the effect of fear perhaps
contracting the pores, and hindering the escape of the effluvia--I know
not, but I am far from being convinced even now that it is not so.
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