possessed by a terror that I should be handed over to the care of the
unsympathetic Charles, I replied that I should be very grateful, and so
the thing was settled.

On our way home we passed through a country town, of which I forget the
name, and the sight of a gunsmith's shop there reminded me that I had
no cartridges. So I stopped to order some, as, fortunately, Lord Ragnall
had mentioned that the guns he was going to lend me were twelve-bores.
The tradesman asked me how many cartridges I wanted, and when I replied
"a hundred," stared at me and said:

"If, as I understood, sir, you are going to the big winter shoot at
Ragnall to-morrow, you had better make it three hundred and fifty at
least. I shall be there to watch, like lots of others, and I expect to
see nearly two hundred fired by each gun at the last Lake stand."

"Very well," I answered, fearing to show more ignorance by further
discussion. "I will call for the cartridges on my way to-morrow morning.
Please load them with three drachms of powder."

"Yes, sir, and an ounce and an eighth of No. 5 shot, sir? That's what
all the gentlemen use."

"No," I answered, "No. 3; please be sure as to that. Good evening."

The gunsmith stared at me, and as I left the shop I heard him remark to
his assistant:

"That African gent must think he's going out to shoot ostriches with
buck shot. I expect he ain't no good, whatever they may say about him."