A Final Story 302 Careful Wives 303 "What Her was Like" 304 Index 305 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS _To face Page_ A Pipe of Peace _Frontispiece_ Spring's Looking-glass 40 Hampshire Hurdles 78 The Long Day Closes 134 Starlings Roosting on Reeds 204 _From a Drawing by Frank Southgate, R.B.A._ Peewits in Winter 280 _From a Drawing by Frank Southgate, R.B.A._ SPRING The Keepers' Lot The position of a gamekeeper in England is a curious one. Admittedly he is among the most skilled and highly trained workers of the countryside. His intimate knowledge of wild life commands respect. Often he is much more than a careful and successful preserver of game--a thoroughly good sportsman, a fine shot. His work carries heavy responsibility; as whether a large expenditure on a shooting property brings good returns--and on him depends the pleasure of many a sporting party. On large estates he is an important personage--important to the estate owner, to the hunt, to the farm bailiff, and to a host of satellites. His value is proved by the many important side-issues of his work--dog-breeding and dog-breaking, or the breaking of young gentlemen to gun work. Yet, in spite of the honourable and onerous nature of his calling, he is paid in cash about the same wage as a ploughman. * * * * * Perquisites The actual wages of a first-class gamekeeper may be no more than a pound a week. A system has sprung up by which he receives, in addition to wages, many recompenses in kind, while his slender pay is fortified by the tips of the sportsman to whom he ministers. This system has bred in him a kind of obsequiousness--he is dependent to a great extent on charity. With a liberal employer he may be well off, and all manner of good things may come his way; but with a mean employer the perquisites of his position may be few and far between.