These bullets are very apt to ricochet from walls so spectators must take care.

A canvas sheet hung loosely behind each shooter is the best stop-b.u.t.t, as it gives to the blow of the bullet and stops ricochets. A bullet once fired is too distorted to use again.

CHAPTER LIX

KILLING INJURED ANIMALS

Unless in the hands of a very skilful shot the pistol is most unsuitable for killing injured animals with.

They will probably be hit many times before a vital spot is struck and so be horribly tortured.

This remark applies especially to small animals like cats and dogs.

The best weapon for this purpose is a 12-bore shotgun loaded with No. 5 shot but even as small as No. 7 shot is very deadly if fired at a range of not more than four or five feet off.

With the shotgun a shot directed behind the ear into the top of the neck kills instantly.

The forehead shot is not suitable for a shotgun on large animals as the strength of skull prevents the shot penetrating, and the animal is only stunned.

With a pistol the spot to hit is between the eyes where the hair curls in the middle of the forehead in horses.

It is better to hit too high than too low in the forehead shot as a low shot misses the brain.

Load both barrels of the shotgun and be ready to fire the second barrel instantly if the horse does not collapse at once at the first shot.

The head shot at a few yards off is the place to shoot a cat or dog with the shotgun but do not attempt to shoot them with a pistol unless you are a good shot, able to shoot into the ace of hearts at five yards' distance, aim at the top of the head, or you may break the jaw instead of killing the animal.

People have sometimes been wrongly prosecuted and convicted for torturing a dog when they were trying to kill it instantly and painlessly, but lacked the skill and nerve.

When an animal is in pain, especially if it is crying out and struggling, a man is very apt to lose his nerve and be unable to kill it properly, but will strike wildly.

In killing an animal, in order to do it as painlessly as possible, it is necessary to treat the matter quite calmly and in what looks to be a cold-blooded manner, and to know the vital spots.

Decide the exact spot to shoot at, heart or brain, and hit it in that exact spot and be ready to repeat the shot, if the animal is not instantly dead.

With a horse I find it is best to put some hay or gra.s.s down in front of it, and when it puts its head down, with its forehead vertical, it gives a good chance to shoot. There is no use trying to pull the horse's head into position and get struggling with it. To shoot a horse, do not use a pistol of smaller calibre than .44 with full charge.

If properly done the horse feels no pain.

If several horses have to be shot, do not let them see each other shot, or see the dead bodies or smell them.

A shotgun cannot be used in a crowd, nor for that matter can a pistol.

As soon as a horse is injured everyone runs up to enjoy the sight and they crowd round, so great care must be taken not to shoot until the people are cleared away from the line of fire.

If possible get the horse into a yard with a high wall round it before shooting and be sure boys are not perched on the wall.

I saw a man kill a small dog instantly as soon as it was run over by a motor car by picking it up and dislocating its neck by stretching, like wounded hares and rabbits are killed.

But this requires great skill, knack, and nerve.

Otherwise not only would the dog be further tortured but he would bite.

n.o.body can understand his fellow creatures or be judged by them. Each human being from birth to death is absolutely alone, everyone is misunderstood as to his motives and thoughts, he is as separated from others, even when in a crowd, as if the Atlantic Ocean were between them.

He is praised for what does not deserve praise, and blamed for what he is not guilty of.

He cannot understand why another finds pleasure in what he himself hates.

One man likes to get soaking wet crawling all day to shoot a stag, which another thinks is folly, as a stag already shot, can so much easier and cheaper be bought at the poulterer's shop.

I cannot understand the pleasure of sitting up all night playing cards, smoking and drinking, when it is much more comfortable to be sleeping in bed; another man thinks cards, drink, and gambling Heaven on earth.

To give an instance of how one's motives can be misunderstood:

A poor old worn-out white horse, after struggling on slippery cobble-stones to pull a cart load of stones, fell and could not get up again.

An eager crowd at once collected watching the owner thrashing the horse over the head and kicking it.

The horse was struggling desperately to rise and kept falling and groaning and was bleeding at the mouth where the man was kicking it.

I rushed up to remonstrate. A man, a stranger to me, called out "I can't stand this, let us buy the horse between us."

The owner of the horse made us pay much more than the horse was worth.

We got a vet. who said the horse was so injured that it must be killed, so he killed it.

Next day a paragraph appeared in the local paper.

Two well-known visitors to our beautiful town performed a very graceful act yesterday.

A poor man lost his horse, his faithful dumb friend who had been his constant help and companion for years. These kind gentlemen took compa.s.sion on the hard lot of this man in his grief and presented him with a handsome sum to buy himself a new horse.

The brute made quite a good thing of it, as the paragraph brought him various sums from sympathisers, and he was able to buy a heavier whip, and a stronger pair of boots, and a new horse, to thrash and kick.

Possibly the historian who wrote that Nero fiddled whilst Rome was burning was mistaken and poor old Nero was doing his best telephoning for the County Council Motor fire-escapes to come and save the Christians from the burning houses.

I misunderstand others. I did not appreciate a man's piety when he refused to help me rescue a dying horse because it was Sunday.

The best instrument of all for killing injured horses is what is obligatory in all Belgian slaughter houses, not only for cattle but for sheep and pigs. (See Plate 18.)

It consists of a short pistol barrel of .38 bore with a bell-shaped muzzle which is applied to the forehead of the animal to be slaughtered.

A tap with a mallet fires it and the bullet goes through the brain and spinal column of the neck causing instant death. Its fault is that it may go off by accident if dropped on its plunger.