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Short
Story
rHE SPORTSMEN
by
C. S. LEAROYD
-WHEN I was a student I
used to live down in the
country and travel up to
Hospital eycry day.
It
was then that I belonged to a most
exclusive little set. Thel;"e were only
nine of us, and when the guard had
locked. the door just before we left
Harbridge nobody else could gain
admittance. I got in at Market
Citron, where the 8,51 starts, and
Harbridge is the next station.
I did not know the names of any
of my fellow-travellers, who were
nearly always the same people, and
with us it was not considered good
form to do more than grunt at each
other on meeting in . the morning.
In the next compartment
t~ere
was
another set, a very democratic
affair. They were all golfers, actual
or verbal, and when the train stopped
at a station our silence was rudely
broken by their chatter.
This story _ concerns the two
elderly and very respectable gentle–
men who got in at Harbridge and
made up our full complement. We
always kepV two opposite corner
seats for them, as they had been
travelling- .on the line for many
.years, and we were great sticklers
for that sort of thinp; in our set,
For the first two' orlhree minutes
after they had gat into our com–
partment they used to continue '
their • platform
~ c6nversation,
then
they broke apart, so to speak, and
each of them became immersed
in
his newspaper. · They both took
The Times,
but I noticed they had
different techniques in reading it.
The
s~date
one, whom I always
thought of , as "Beaver," went
through his from cover to cover in
a straightforward and methodical
way. The more sprightly "Bonzo,"
on the other hand, started at the
important page in the middle,
sniffea at the leading articles,
doubled ba,ck to the Law .Reports,
'did~
a good cross-country to City
Notes; and finished up with the
Births, Marriages, and Dea,ths as a
sort
oJ
savoury.
~
Now invariably when we were
about fOllr minutes from Liverpool
Street, when 'everybody was begin–
ning to stir as from hibernation,
a,nd , to glance along _the rack to
) deI}.j:ify hat or parcel,_one of these
' tw~
wO,uld whisper over to the
other.. "What did you get this
morning
1'J·
And the ofher would -answer
something like this: "One pheasant
in the marsh, a brace of
part~idges
in the wood, and- a rabbit in the
meadow. ,What did ·yo.u ?"-"Oh,
only two tabbits, both in the
wood."
The bag varied from day to day,
but it was never very big. I think
the best I heard recorded was three
pheasants, a brace of partridges,
and three rabbits. Quite often they
got nothing at all.
I rememb"er one very rainy
morning when I felt quite depressed
at their lack of sport. "What did
you get this morning? Nothing?
Nor did
1.
Rotten day!"
I got into the way of listening for
this conversation, and could not
help admiring these game old
sportsmen, who must have got out
of 'bed while it was still dark in
order that they might get
th~ir
bit
of shooting before coming up to
town.
It
seemed to bring a touch
of real country life into that stuffy
little compartment. -
I often wondered how big their
estates were, and came to the con–
clusion that they must be two or
three -hundred acres at least. They
both apparently possessed marsh–
lands and meadows as well as
wo.ods, although they seemed to
get most of their shooting in the
last.
Once or twice I did gather· a
little more information, which
seemed to indicate that their lands
adjoined. In answer to the usual
question. "Bonzo" had said, "One
partridge and a rabbit, both in the
wood. What did you ?"
"A Jabbit only; I think it's the
same as yours," answered "Beaver,"
and chuckled.
.
From this I deduced that they
had simultaneously shot at the
same rabbit on their mutual boun–
dary. I got con!irmation' of this a
few days later, w1!en
~ 'Beaver"
said
to. "BoIl:zo," "You got a brace of
pheasants in the marsh, didn't
you? Mine's a brace of partridges."
That showed that he must have
seen the birds shot, or at any rate
seen them get up and heard the
repor:ts. -
.
I got tremendously interested in
their sport }- there was quite a
romance about it, and I felt gen–
uinely sorry as the day of th'e close
season approached.
No longer
should I have the daily stimulus to
go imaginary walks With "Bonzo"
and see him piGk out -a right and
left as the covey swept down–
wind over the plough. Not for
many moons should I be", at
"Beaver's" side, even in fancy,
and see him_bring down the swiftly
moving cruciform silhouette as it
skimmed over the. finely-etched
tree-tops above us. I , was going
to lose this interest which had
givep rny nostrils such a tang of
(CQ1ltinued on page
71)
Pietur. Post , September
9, 1939
It's not only active
people who
~ge~
Quietly enjoying' the deep peace
of the green .valley, the distant
, hills beyond. So still he stands,·
' still as the air about him. But
that doesn't mean he's not per–
spiring. He is, we all do, as much
as
I
t
pints a day, doctors tell us.
Nofhing is morc natural than
deals with all traces of .s tale
perspiration, all waste matter from
the skin pores.
There's a grand and glorious
feeling of freshness and invigor–
ation after a Lifebuoy Toilet Soap
bath. Try it and see'!
perspiration. Nothing more un-
- r-:-=--;::------------,
pleasant than Body-Odour. When
we perspire, 'waste matter lingers
.in
the pOres. When it becomes
stale we get (B.O.'
You can't have Bo<!y-Odour if
you use Lifebuoy Toilet Soap
regularly. Its full rich lather, with
the special ,health element,
I.
liFE
A
LEVER
1>1U"l,OTTr'"
About
It
-pints
...Dm~;':~-cI
of perspiration
are expelled from the average person's sys tem
daily. This fact is ' "oll che.c1 fOl'
by
medical
authorities, They te ll us that lhis perspirat ion
does not eva porate entirely. a residue is always
left in dle porrs. becoming sta le, with '
a lio ti ceable odour in '24 hours. T his
sta le perspira tion,makes Body-Odour
certain.
Y~t '
B.O.'
is so easy to
prevent if
r Oil
make a ha bit of a da ily
ha th with I.ifcbuoy T oilet Soap.
,PICTURE -POST