"Well, I just rode down here on purpose to tell you that such work as
that will not be allowed."
"Who will not allow it?"
"I will not, for one, and my father for another."
"What have you to say about it?" asked David, who did not like the
insolent tone assumed by the young horseman. "Do the birds belong to
you?"
"They are as much mine as they are yours, and if you have a right to
trap them and ship them off, I have a right to say that you shan't do
it."
"Why not? What harm will it do?"
"It will do just this much harm: it will make the birds scarce about
here, and there are no more than we want to shoot ourselves. O, you
needn't laugh about it, I mean just what I say; and if you don't
promise that you will let the quail alone, you will see trouble. I am
going to get up a Sportsman's Club among the fellows, and then we'll
keep such poachers and pot-hunters as you where you belong. No one
objects to your shooting the birds over a dog--that's the way to
shoot them; but you shan't trap them and send them out of the
country. Will you promise that you will give up the idea?"
"No, I won't," answered David.
"Then you'll find yourself in the hands of the law, the first thing
you know," exclaimed Lester, angrily.
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