"Sure there war," answered Timothy, with conviction. "I remember hearin' of one, Owen by the Clee, as had a cock that he allus swore had been reared by an owl; and Davies, near Munslow, had a famous green-tailed bird, that he used to say was hatched in a pie's nest. I cannot say for sure how it war," said the old man, "but sartain I be that them war the two best birds as ever I seed--let 'em be reared as they might be. They war two upstanding birds, tall in the leg, long, lean heads, and born game. No white feather in they. There war many," continued the old man, "who tried to get luck in all ways, and stopped at nothing. Some gave 'em chopped beef afore fightin', and many beat up an egg in their meal to give 'em courage and strength. And then"--and here old Timothy paused--"there war other ways." "What ways?" I asked with curiosity. "Well," and my old guest sank his voice to a whisper, "there war some on Easter Sunday as took the Sacrament, as took it at no other time." "But what had that to do with cock-fighting?" I asked. "Why, jist this," and Timothy's voice became hardly audible. "They drank the wine, but saved the bread, for some believed that a cock that had eaten consecrated bread afore he went into the ring, war bound to win, as the devil fought for 'im himself." "What a horrible sacrilege!" I could not refrain from exclaiming. "That's what folks wud say now," agreed Timothy, complacently; "but there war many as didn't feel that then. Times be different. It war wrong, I suppose," he added, "but the sport war that strong in Shropshire men then, they wud ha' raced angels for pence and fought with Bibles, if so be folks would have laid on bets." But after a pause, he added, "They didn't all go that far; some only bought dust from church chancels that they threw on their bird's feathers, or chucked a pinch into the bags, and there never came no harm from that, for it gave the sextons and vergers a lucky penny, and made use of what otherwise would have been let lie on the midgeon heap. And even parsons didn't themselves interfere there, 'cause the practice made sextons and church officials easy to find as nuts in the Edge Wood." Then I turned, and asked the old man about old Squire Forester's hounds. "Ay, they war grand ones." And my old guest's eyes flashed with enthusiasm. And then old Timothy went on to ask me if I had ever heard of Tom Moody, "as great a devil as ever rode a horse. There war none to beat Tom--Tom war whipper-in, and then huntsman, and bred a rider. One day he rode, as a little lad, an ugly cob with a pig-bristled mane. Somehow Tom hung on, jumped with the best, and never fell, though the leps that day, they said, were hugeous. I never seed Tom myself," continued Timothy, "but grandam war his own cousin right enough, and it war a proud moment for any lad to clasp hands with old Tom. There war many then less proud to know a bishop or a peer, than to know Tom.