DUCK-SHOOTING. 2.69 
luck, and with a restlessness that showed increasing 
dissatisfaction on the part of Henry; so that I was 
not surprised when, early in the afternoon, he told 
me that he must return to the club-house. I re- 
mained for some hours where he left me; but hear- 
ing rapid shooting near the Gap, I poled my way 
there through a broad field of lilies, known as the 
Pond Lily Channel, and there, to my surprise, found 
Henry. i 
Whether it was the desire to be alone, for his 
peculiarity of preferring to shoot by himself has 
been mentioned, or whether he was tempted by a 
favorable flight of birds, I never knew; when I ap- 
peared, he paddled hastily away as though ashamed, 
and made no answer to my inquiries as to what 
detained him, or how they could manage without 
him at the house. Unceremoniously occupying his 
place, I completed the evening, and the allotted 
hours of my stay, with some excellent shooting at 
flocks of mallards, widgeons, and blue-bills, that pour- 
ed through the Gap in endless flights, till after dark. 
Then, for the last time, I rowed through the dark- 
ness towards the well-known point ; for the last time 
sat down at the groaning board which our kind- 
hearted landlady had furnished so liberally ; played 
my last game with the euchre-loving son of Kentucky ; 
smoked a farewell pipe of Killikinnick in the so- 
ciable circle around the air-tight; slept for the last 
time in the comfortable bed under the hospitable 
roof of the club-house; and next morning, having 
seen my associates depart, each in his little boat, and 
