2IO The H^afer-fowl Family 



following afternoon I hoped to preside at the ob- 

 sequies of a goose. We started, when it came 

 time, in a buggy ; this doesn't seem quite in har- 

 mony with surroundings, for we were in the wilds 

 of North Dakota, but this special buggy certainly 

 served our purpose. There was room on the seat 

 for Jim and me and the hired man, and under the 

 seat for three young Canada geese, that were un- 

 ceremoniously jumbled into a sack, where they 

 kicked around for a while and then became quiet. 

 We reached the pit about four in the afternoon, 

 after three miles jogging over stubbles. There 

 wasn't much left of Jim's corn, and according to 

 Jim he hadn't been stingy. The pit was dug deep, 

 the dirt well scattered, in fact there were tracks 

 right up on the edge. It looked like one of those 

 sure things. Jim staked out the three decoys and 

 tied a string to each one of their free legs; these 

 strings were for manipulation behind the screen, 

 and this was his business in the pit. I had two guns, 

 a ten and a twelve. It began to get fairly well 

 along toward sunset, and we were getting a trifle 

 anxious, when the sound of distant honking bright- 

 ened up matters. The decoys were young and 

 didn't appreciate the importance of speaking up, so 

 Jim proceeded to pull the legs of two; the result 

 was a few distressed honks ; they were answered, 

 and a tumultuous droning indicated a big gang of 

 geese. From the noise now they must be behind 



