This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt:...they had come in this direction to see who it could be, and had stumbled on the authors of the mischief. "Well, you don't seem any the worse," said Colonel Drake presently, looking with some amusement at Roe; "although I should have thought that gun went off rather too near you to be pleasant. How came you to get hold of it?" Roe, whose presence of mind had returned in some measure when he found that he was not shot, explained how they had come out for a walk in the woods, and had borrowed this gun from the keeper's little girl, not meaning to do any harm, but only just to have a shot at a rabbit." "Well, Reed," said Colonel Drake, looking first at Mr. Chaplin and then at the keeper, with a visible inclination to laugh, "it is not September, so you must let them off this once; but mind, if ever you come here again, it must be with Reed's leave or mine, and whatever you do, I advise you for your own sakes to be more careful how you meddle with other people's guns." "And if you'd blown your head off, it would just have served you right," growled the keeper. "Thank you, sir," was all Roe said, without condescending to notice Reed's remark; and as for Alban, he felt too guilty to dare to look up, and wished himself miles underground instead of where he was. They were not slow to take themselves off, and in a very short time were scrambling through the gap which led into the Costwick fields. "My goodness, that was a let off!" said Roe, breathing freely for the first time, now he was safe out of Reed's clutches. "You may just thank your stars, Lock, that the colonel did not come down on you sharper. Only think, if he had told Wingfield, where should we have been...