A POT-HUNTER'S DEFIANCE 59 



an' play poker in a club-house all night until it's 

 time for the dawn shootin', go out to a duck blind, 

 kill a bunch ' birds an ' then sleep all day. Game 

 laws an' game wardens ! I don't want 'em 'round 

 here, an' it ain't goin' to be healthy for any of 'em 

 that comes 'round here. An' any one who wants 

 to, can tell 'em I said so!" 



How much longer the harangue would have con- 

 tinued there was no saying, but the Mallards which 

 had given rise to the conversation being thor- 

 oughly roasted by this time. Bull and the boy sat 

 down to dinner. The meal, as usual, passed in si- 

 lence, the old hunter — like most of his kind — eat- 

 ing fast and devoting all his attention to his plate. 



After dinner, Shan took all the feathers, as well 

 as the heads and feet of the two ducks, and buried 

 them deeply in a hole dug in the forest. The lad 

 had been taught to do this, many years before, but 

 it was only lately that he realized that Bull's insist- 

 ence that not a feather should fly away was be- 

 cause the presence of Wild Duck feathers might 

 be incriminating in the event of a visit from the 

 game warden of the county or some similar official. 



Ducks were Bull's addition to the table, and 

 Shan had nothing to do with them beyond plucking 

 and cleaning them. Turtles and crabs, however, 



