should ever so much as name. Can’st tell me now, my fine fellow, what three articles be those which make an able sportsman’s stock in trade?
“Aye, my old cock of the woods, I can tell you that,” said Rudolph, clearing his throat, “or else it were a pity:
A dog, a gun, and a skilful hand,
In the forest are better than house or land.’
“Good,” said Bertram, “and these three together are an overmatch for all the spells in Germany.”
“With your leave, father Bertram,” replied William, somewhat chagrined, “here is my gun; and I should be glad to see the man that has any fault to find with that: as to my skill, I shall not boast of it; yet I think it can’t be denied that I do as well as others: nevertheless, so it is—that my balls seem to fly askance, as if the wind turned them out of their course. Do but tell me what it is that I should do, and there is nothing I will not try.”
