Lord Ragnall asked me what I wished to do. I replied that I would rather
go on, but that I was in his hands.

"I think we are fairly safe in these open places, Sir Junius," he said;
"and as the pheasants have been so much disturbed already, it does not
much matter if they are blown about a bit. But if you are of another
opinion, perhaps you had better get out of it and stand with the others
over the lake. I'll send for my guns and take your place."

On hearing this Van Koop changed his mind and said that he would go on.

So the beat began. At first the wind blew from behind us, and pheasants
in increasing numbers passed over our heads, most of them rather low,
to the guns on the farther side of the water, who, skilled though they
were, did not make very good work with them. We had been instructed not
to fire at birds going forward, so I let these be. Van Koop, however,
did not interpret the order in the same spirit, for he loosed at
several, killing one or two and missing others.

"That fellow is no sportsman," I heard Lord Ragnall remark. "I suppose
it is the bet."

Then he sent Charles to ask him to desist.

Shortly after this the gale worked round to the north and settled there,
blowing with ever-increasing violence. The pheasants, however, still
flew forward in the shelter of the trees, for they were making for the
covert on the hill, where they had been bred. But when they got into the
open and felt the full force of the wind, quite four out of six of