Snatching up the rifles, Ralph followed the girl as she threaded her way through the trees. At last she halted abruptly. "Look!" she whispered. "There they are."
And, indeed, Ralph saw that all the trees around him were congested with grouse. He levelled his rifle and fired.
Bang! A grouse fell at his feet. He snatched the second rifle from Lady Margaret, who had assumed the rôle of loader. Bang! Another fell. There was no escape from that deadly eye.
Lady Margaret had been brought up to sport from her earliest youth. As a child she had watched many of the finest shots in Europe. But she had never seen anything like this. Such unerring precision enthralled her.
And she played her own part nobly. Almost before Ralph had surrendered the empty rifle the loaded one was in his grasp. And when the barrels grew red-hot, her quick wit saved the situation and she thrust them into the stream which trickled at their feet.
Bang!... Bang!... Bang!
Again the guests were assembled in the gun-room.
"Oyez! Oyez!" cried Lord Tamerton merrily. "I proclaim the champion to be Ralph Wonderson, with a total bag of two thousand brace."
Amid a clamour of laughter and congratulation Lady Margaret came shyly forward and laid her left hand on Ralph's shoulder.