THROUGH WILD EUROPE 273 



flung themselves overboard, into waist-deep water, 

 chased the geese, like two great boys having a lark, 

 and caught three of them. The inspector made 

 them let one go, but the other two had their heads 

 cut off, and were plucked and in the pot in a very 

 few minutes. There was a trail of goose feathers 

 behind the boat for a mile at least. 



Another time the men had been towing against a 

 strong current, and I was having a nap on one side, 

 while the inspector followed suit on the other, where 

 we had made ourselves a comfortable lounge with 

 rugs and coats. Suddenly I missed the ripple of the 

 water against the bows, and there was a sudden 

 mysterious silence. I opened one eye lazily and 

 saw that the boat had stopped and one of the men 

 was in the act of cutting the throat of a sucking-pig 

 tinder water, so that it shouldn't squeal, while another, 

 that had been already killed in like manner, lay 

 beside him. They had come on a family of piglings 

 with the old sow. These two also went into their 

 omnivorous pot, and I don't think the inspector 

 ever knew anything about it. 



I told them I should expect an invitation to dinner 



for holding my tongue, and suggested that they 



might capture a cow, for the sake of fresh milk on 



board. How quickly one becomes demoralized in 



bad company ! 



Once or twice our progress in the narrower 

 18 



