48 



alas ! I cannot detect them with the naked eye. Two steps 

 forward ! But oh the pity of it ! crash goes my knee into a 

 puddle covered with thin ice ! The enemy is alarmed ! the gun 

 raised ! but I have forgotten to chalk over the sight, and my aim 

 will be mere guess work. Still no rise ! shall I go forward, or 

 fire? Only another yard, and I might see them! 

 " Oh the little more and how much it is 



And the little less, and what worlds away." 

 Flap! flap! Ping! ping! Off they go! three of them, clear 

 against the glow of the rising moon ! The suspense is over, 

 and I watch them vanish into the distance. Sic transit! transiit! 

 transibit ! 



Only one bird is retrieved — a fine duck, whose wonderfully 

 thick plumage would seem proof against any velocity of steel. 

 A moment's pity for the victim! a moment's shiver in the cold! 

 then back again to the hedge to wait for more! And so the 

 evening wears on till either the cold becomes too intense, or the 

 duck cease to drop in. 



Such evenings are not easily effaced from the memory. The 

 darkness, the solitude, the absolute silence from all clattering 

 discord of daytime and civilivation — in a populous country one 

 can scarcely separate the two — more than atone for the occa- 

 sional failure to secure a bag. As for the discomforts, the cold 

 and cramp that are inseparable from the situation, these are 

 only too slight a tribute for the privilege of communing for a 

 few hours with Nature — solus cum sola. 



