to go off at once to another wood at
some distance and lie in ambush again there. In this way two, or at
most three shots might be got in the short period of dusk. Fond as he
was of carrying a gun, Saurin found this sport unsatisfactory after a
week or so, though it was infinitely better than not shooting anything
at all. But one day when he rode over to the county town, seven miles
off, for cartridges, he saw a small air-gun of a new and improved
pattern in the shop, which took his fancy very much indeed. It was
beautifully finished, charged in the simplest way imaginable, and would
carry either a bullet or a small charge of shot, killing easily, the man
said, with the former at fifty yards, and with the latter at five-and-
twenty. It would require some skill to hit a rabbit in the head with a
bullet; and as there was no report to speak of, only a slight crack,
killing or missing one would not scare the others. The price was not
high, and as Sir Richard never objected to his having anything in reason
that he wanted, and was, moreover, glad that the rabbits who committed
sad havoc in the garden should be thinned down, he took it home with him
and tried it that evening. Just about sunset he repaired to his
favourite spot, a clump of three trees growing close together, behind
which he could easily conceal himself. A wood, full of thick
undergrowth, well nigh impenetrable, ran in front and made an angle to
the right, so that there were two sides from which the rabbits might
come out. The air was perfectly still, not a leaf was stirring, and
every note of a bird that was warbling his evening song, positively the
very last before shutting up for the night, fell sharp and clear upon
the ear, as Saurin knelt behind the trees, gun in hand, eagerly
watching. Presently he saw something brown, rather far on his left,
close to the wood. It came a little further out, and the long ears
could be distinguished.

Saurin was rather doubtful about the distance, but, eager to try his new
weapon, he took a steady aim and pulled. No smoke, no fire, nothing but
a slight smack such as a whip would make. The rabbit raised its head,
listened, and hopped quietly back into the wood. A palpable miss. But
there on the right was another, not thirty yards off this one. Saurin
slewed round, got the sight well on its head, and pulled again. This
rabbit did _not_ go back to the wood, but turned over, struggled a
little, and then lay stil