THE MUD QUEEN 113 
west of us, but we never saw them until they were half- 
way over to us. 
‘‘Now then,’’ said Jimmy, ‘‘I’ll bet a dollar you don’t 
get all three of them.”’ 
‘‘You’re on,’’ said I grabbing the automatic. 
They came in nicely; swinging round from a little 
south of us, they turned north until fifty yards outside 
our decoys, then with outstretched steady wings and 
looking like small balloons they sailed right up to the 
decoys. The automatic worked nicely. Two ducks 
luckily got in line and dropped at the first shot and I 
nailed the other before he had time to get up full speed. 
All three fell within thirty-five yards. | 
‘“‘Darn all spoonbills,’’ said Jimmy, ‘‘it’s just disgust- 
ing the way those three knew I was betting on them. 
Two of them had to get in line for your first shot and 
the other one did not have enough sense to fly away. 
Confound such stupid ducks.” 
‘‘Tt’s too bad,”’ I said, ‘‘that our bet was not twenty- 
five dollars.” 
‘“‘Huh! Twenty-five dollars!” said Jimmy; “‘why 
should I bet all that money? I think a nickel is enough 
to bet on spoonbills.’’ 
‘‘What sort of a yarn did Captain Spooner spin on 
spoonbills?’’ I asked. 
‘Oh, the Captain said it happened in the Ark,”’ re- 
plied Jimmy. ‘‘He said old man Noah had in the Ark 
all the animals and birds that were native to Central 
Asia. Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their children 
took care of and fed them all. As the animals were the 
heaviest they were down on the lower and middle decks 
and Cap. Spooner said it was a terrible job feeding some 
of the animals hay and others raw meat. 
‘**Oh, come on, Captain Spooner,’ said I interrupting, 
8 
