308 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
and logs and floating debris, and quickly strands on 
some submerged tree, whose roots cling to the fast- 
washing bank. The boat swerves one way, then an- 
other, finally the water surges against its sides, then 
rushes beneath it, only to appear again on the opposite 
side, while hundreds of whirling eddies spin in the 
caldron of foam. In the spring overflows this is no 
exaggerated simile, but may be expected any time. 
Your boat should be one, then, that when you get in 
such places, no shadow of fear should pass over your 
face, no palpitation of the heart be experienced, no 
anxiety for family, no thought ef unpaid and possibly 
expired life insurance policies. On the contrary, you 
should feel free to sit still and enjoy the scene, with 
perfect_confidence in the safety of your boat, feeling 
that it cannot upset, and that the boiling eddies around 
you are powerless to engulf it; that in your boat noth- 
ing less than a maelstrom could bring disaster. 
Then again, your boat will oftentimes be your com- 
panion. Mine has carried me through marshes in I[Ili- 
nois, rivers in Iowa, lakes in Dakota; indeed, I never 
think of going off on a duck hunt, when large bodies 
of water are to be hunted in, unless my boat goes with 
me. ‘To have a boat that is easy to handle is an abso- 
lute necessity, for the boat must go by express, or as 
freight, or hauled on wagons and handled by men not 
noted for carefulness. This being the case, it should 
be short of length ; to afford stability, it should be broad 
of beam; not to be conspicuous, it should sit low on the 
water; to afford a blind, it should be decked over at 
bow and sides, the combing of the cock-pit extending 
about four inches above the decking. When loaded 
and trimmed as a blind her guards should extend only 
