THE WILD GOOSE, 1 23 



as those of the mountain ash. Where this failed, 

 the evergreen head of the common sumac was 

 good enough, and often a bunch of scrubby Hve- 

 oak or even ramiria or sage would do. Or there 

 would be a little cut or shallow gully in which 

 one could lie amid the pink-veined white of the 

 nodding cowslip and the fragrance of golden 

 violets. 



Well concealed on a good line of flight at the 

 proper time of day, one had rarely long to await 

 the game. Heralded by a mellow Ho?tk, an out- 

 stretched string of dark dots came swiftly toward 

 you, growing rapidly larger as the line widened 

 out ; for the goose, though seeming a slow flier, 

 because so large, is really a bird of rapid flight. 

 On they came, with their Honk sounding clearer 

 and deeper, until you could hardly resist the 

 temptation to look around the side of the bush 

 or through its top to see if the game were near 

 enough. When the liquid notes sounded near, 

 it was so natural to grasp the gun a little tighter 

 and shift it just a little, to have it in the rignt 

 position for quick and certain work when the 

 supreme moment should arrive. But lack of 

 patience was often one's undoing even when the 



