ground varmin are apt to shoot low, my lord. Beaters all ready at the
Hunt Copse, my lord."

Thus speaking he backed himself out of sight. Lord Ragnall watched him
go, then said with a laugh:

"I apologize to you, Mr. Quatermain. That silly old fool was part of my
inheritance, so to speak; and the joke of it is that he is himself the
worst and most dangerous shot I ever saw. However, on the other hand,
he is the best rearer of pheasants in the county, so I put up with
him. Come in, now, won't you? Charles will look after your guns and
cartridges."

So Scroope and I were taken through a side entrance into the big hall
and there introduced to the other members of the shooting party, most of
whom were staying at the castle. They were famous shots. Indeed, I
had read of the prowess of some of them in _The Field_, a paper that I
always took in Africa, although often enough, when I was on my distant
expeditions, I did not see a copy of it for a year at a time.

To my astonishment I found that I knew one of these gentlemen. We had
not, it is true, met for a dozen years; but I seldom forget a face,
and I was sure that I could not be mistaken in this instance. That mean
appearance, those small, shifty grey eyes, that red, pointed nose could
belong to nobody except Van Koop, so famous in his day in South Africa
in connexion with certain gigantic and most successful frauds that the
law seemed quite unable to touch, of which frauds I had been one of the
many victims to the extent of £250, a large sum for me.

The last time we met there had been a stormy scene between us, which