Behind him followed a younger man, and in the rear a boy.

Sometimes there was an extra assistant, making four; sometimes there was only the old man and one companion.

Each had a long and strong ash stick across his shoulder, on which a load of rabbits was slung, an equal number in front and behind, to balance.

The old fellow, who was dressed shabbily even for a labourer, was the contractor for the rabbits shot or ferreted in these woods.
He took the whole number at a certain fixed price all round, and made what he could out of them.

Every evening in the season he went to the woods to fetch those that had been captured during the day, conveying them to his cottage on the outskirts of the village.