MR. JOHNSON'S EXPERIENCES.

Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 1975, 8 June 1876, Page 2

MR. JOHNSON'S EXPERIENCES.

EXPERIENCE SECOND.

ME JOHNSON GOEB PHEASANT SHOOTING I went on collect" ig money with that variable experience which :"s tho lot of m n, and I found bat to be a suece'-ful oollector, it requires a we'Vbalancod temperament, and one who can be all things te s!l men. These points I may fttlly explain another time. I was getting done up wth tho work, atid as pheasant shooting was coming on, I determined to have alittle of the Bme. My heart w ■! fired by the sight of co many sportsmen off to the field of pheasants, and ray ardour was encouraged by the reminisences of ttoyhooc n sporting days. I was indue ito buy a licence, ana with a new potent broach loadf-r, doub!e-V' relied gun from Evitt's I was off by the Mercer train for a week's shooting in the Ws'kato. Glad to ■'scape from the undertakers and hotel" of town, I went eagerly into the sport, but before I had been out many hours, I heard volleys of musketry fhv d off, along the ranges near the bu^h. I said to myself, Mr .Tohnson,you are in for sport this time for here's a rising among the Injins of the "Waikato. I was piono, but was not afrfid, for I had hunted Injuns in Amoriky when qu'to a lad, so I made straight in the direction of the fighting, as I thought it was On getting over the range, I could see a booy of men, dressed in the uniform of men-o'-wars-men, about ten of them. I wsb just going to call out to them where was the In June? when a pheasant rose near them. I heard a voice say " Prfent fire!" and every man raised Ws gun and fired such a volley at the poor pheasant, as knocked him apparently into half a dozen. I were agreeably surprised to see such fine sport, and could see at a glance, what was the volleys of musketry I had heard, for every time a pheasant rose, up wont every gun, and a volley was fired at him by the small regimert of sportsmen. Every man discharged lii piece, for if one or two were late in taking em, they firfdall the s-me as soon a™, they were re<idy, even if the bird had dropp 1, or had flown out of sight, then all had a fair load afresh. T bare away from this jolly lot of tars, I could see they enjoyed the sport in t^eir own way, and why should they not? but 1 was not going io shoot near such roars of artillery, altho' I liked company, and they was ye. y merry. However, I met with company just after, in the shape of an old gentleman who w*t a leading i Itizen of Auckla id, he had a tremendous long gun. which his great grandfathc- had had made to shoot poachers with, so he told me. It was like a small ArmstODg, single barrell, but held a powerful lot of powder and shot. He was a stu-apy little nervous sore of arnaD. He said (when we had introduced each other to one anotiei) ''Mr Johnson wili you change guns ? I am not strong enough to cany this 'ere one, and besides it might kick " I begged to be excused, as I had j ost got into the ways of my own. He had a lot f o say of the long war it would kill. Ho thought it used to kill a mile otf in hlu grandfather's time, but he had not tried it, himself, we were going to get over an awkward rough fence' when we saw a lot of pheasants on the clearing about 200 hundred yards off. I sad to Mr Draper, " Will you jrit try your small cannon from off this fence 1" He turned white, but plucked up courage and said, '"Certainly, Mr Johnson." I helped him over the ditch onto the fence, and propped him up safe. He put tho long affair to his shoulder, shut both his eyes, and then followed a report, a scream, a tumble down, and for a moment I thought he was dead. And he must have thought so too, for he lay quite still. I observed a piece of his unmentionables had stuck on the post of the fenca, but I could not gee any blood. I said, '" Mr Draper, Is you dead?" He rose and tat all of aheap. He said excitedly, " I wish I was ; I've, tore the trousers off my ba %It, and what wl'l I do, Mr Johnson?" I said, " Calm youTeelf, sir; you is excited by the fall Gee ud and Jet ma see if you is hurt He roße, and after I had held an inquest over his body. T pronounced his body right, but a fatal accident had happened to his troasers. The jagged top of the fence had caught him when he fell and tf ken out a formidable pieco of cloth. He looked at me with tears in his eyes, and said, " What will I do, Mr Johnson?' IJsald, "Comfort yourself, sir, that you have lost nothing eke than a bit of cloth ;" and I applied myself to repair the brrac'i, which was done by using the old gentleman's game bag, which just fitted the part tnrn away, and with flax strings I tied it on ai neat as I could ; what it hadn't in -ooH it possessed in strength. He appeared more comfortable when the job wa3 done, ar>d his face was beginning to brighten up a little, when a voice bahind us said, "Ahem!" There was nothing particular in ths words, but [saw my companion tuu as whito as when I asked him to tiy Lis canuon on the pheasants, for tho intruder was a policeman, and I took it all in at a glance. He had follow d the old gentleman about, knowing he had no licence. Said the policeman to my companion, " Your name is Mr Draper, I believe ? 1 have watched you hunt for and shoot at game. You have got no licerce, or if you havo show tt to me." Mr Draper was caught- However, he plucked up and said, " I havi private liberty to shoot here from the proprietor of the g-ound." The policeman said that the owner was shooting over the ground. Be then lifted his hat to Mr Draper, and told him he would see him again. Poor Mr Draper! He said he had done shooting for ever, and made straight for home. I heard since he had to pay nearly £10 for his sport, and that he had sold his long affair to Mr Evitt, and that the same majestic firearm could be seen by anyone to this day who likes to look inside that gunsmith's shop door. I made good shooting the first day, a3 the birds were plentiful, and I returned to my quartern tired enough but well pleased with the result, having bagged ten and a half Iraca, the best of which I forwar.ied to Messrs Largbridge and Silver, and expect to get the prize.