The American Ampler. 



Pine Bn)ok was reached in five minutes 

 over the hour. The hotel stable soon 

 contained the horse, while the smiling 

 hostler promised a faithful rubbing 

 down when he was cooled off, and a plen- 

 tiful supply of feed and water afterward. 

 The darkey's eyes and teeth looked 

 doubly white against his ebony skin, as 

 he grinned and said ' ' Good morning, 

 boss," for Fred often drove there, and 

 the remembrance of past and future 

 tips were evidently present in the lad's 

 mind and memory. Taking the road 

 toward Franklin, we started on our 

 quest. Hal and Meg bounded along 

 in front of us. Fred knew the Big 

 Piece, as an old Knickerbocker knows 

 the streets of old New York, and he 

 was intent upon reaching a little thicket 

 of alders before any one else got there, 

 "for, if we do not get there first, our 

 name is Dennis for sure." A quarter 

 of a mile passed, when, right at the side 

 of the road, in a little ditch grown up 

 to rank ferns and blackberry canes, 

 Meg, who had been running on that 

 side of the road, commenced roading 

 along, and then came to a dead stop. 

 Fred exclaimed: 



"Well! I'll be hanged! Did you 

 ever see the like of that ? " Hal at that 

 mxoment crossed the road from the 

 other side, and catching sight of the 

 pointing Meg, stopped as if shot. Of 

 course, w^e couldn't stop long to admire 

 the work, beautiful as it was. I walked 

 down to the little cut, and had scarce 

 reached Hal, when out jumped an old 

 bird, right from under the dog's nose. 

 Well ! I confess I was a bit rattled, 

 forgot to move back the safety, and 

 puU^as I might at the triggers there 

 was no response. Fred, however, 

 caught sight of the bird and tumbled 

 it over as it crossed the road, dropping 

 it in the ditch at the side opposite to 



where I stood. Meg, like all setters 

 after months of rest, was for a while 

 uncontrollable, for she wotild and did 

 dash in to pick up that bird w'hen she 

 saw it fall. On the spot, followed cor- 

 rection, good and sharp. She whim- 

 pered a good deal, but when the grip 

 on her collar was released, she gave 

 herself a solid shake as does a dog 

 when emerging from the water after a 

 swim, and at the command and wave of 

 the hand she was off again as if nothing 

 had happened and it was a pleasant 

 thing to receive a sound thrashing. 

 Fred and myself, as we moved along, 

 disciissed the matter of finding that 

 woodcock by the road side. It was 

 explained by the fact that for two 

 weeks previously rain had fallen at 

 frequent intervals. Certainly it had 

 rained during that time four days con- 

 tinuously. The low-lying spots were 

 pools of water, while the usually dry 

 places w^ere w^et enough to furnish the 

 food and soft enough for the long bills 

 to get at it without trouble. Ten min- 

 utes more of walking and we struck the 

 spot we were looking for. Right at 

 the edge of the Big Piece and not far 

 from one of the little streams that help 

 swell the stream known as Pine Brook. 

 The cover was of birch and alder and 

 aboiit twent}' acres in extent. The 

 ground was a soft, black earth, well- 

 grown to those semi-aquatic plants, the 

 Indian turnip and the skunk cabbage, 

 while elsewhere was a thick growth of 

 knee-high ferns. Scarce had we got in 

 the shade of this cover when both dogs 

 pointed simultaneously. It was at first 

 difficult to decide whether one dog was 

 backing the other or whether both had 

 birds in front of them. They were a 

 dozen yards apart. The rigidity of 

 both animals made us think there were 

 two birds, so Fred said : 



