112 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



Shan's cheery whistle was heard as he returned up 

 the woods path. 



The pot-hunter paid no attention. He had not 

 shifted his gaze, which was fixed full on the federal 

 official's face. When at last he spoke, it was with 

 a heavy and ponderous assurance. 



''I ain't the man to cheat no one o' their rights," 

 he began, *'an' I ain't never done it, spite of all 

 yo' say. Yo've got some reason on yo' side, I'll 

 admit it, but yo're layin' it on a bit too thick. If 

 a kind o' bird is goin' to die off, yo' can't pump 

 ginger into the breed by a bunch o ' laws in Wash- 

 ington. Birds an' men lived on this here earth 

 long afore any one worried about protectin' 'em. 

 An' if I'm hungry, I'm not goin' to be stopped 

 from gettin' my dinner 'cause some New England 

 school-ma'am likes to see the Wild Duck fly or 

 hear the Wild Geese honk. 



''I've lived here, young man, for nigh to sixty 

 years, an' my father before me, an' his father be- 

 fore that. My folks come here an' settled when 

 the i)lace wasn't nothin' but a wilderness. 'Twas 

 us that made the State of North Carolina. We 

 fought the Indians an' we wrestled mth the wild 

 life here. It was use yo' gun or starve! There 

 wouldn't have been no Washington an' no union 



