POINT SHOOTING. 3^5 



and a drake. For each live decoy there is a "stool," 

 which consists of a sharpened stick 2-| feet long, sur- 

 mounted by a circular or oval piece of board 6 inches 

 across. Fastened to the stick which supports this 

 board is a leather line 3 feet long and terminating in 

 two loops, which are slipped over the duck's two feet 

 and drawn tight so that the bird cannot get away, yet 

 not so tight as to press unduly on the flesh. 



Pushing his boat up to the head of the decoys and 

 fastening it as before, John pressed the point of one of 

 the duck stools into the mud until the little table on 

 which the bird was to stand was 2 inches below the 

 water's surface. Then opening the coop, he took out 

 the drake, passed its legs through the loops, drew them 

 close and put the bird in the water. It flapped away 

 from the boat with frightened quackings, but recover- 

 ing at once, began to bathe and to dabble in the water. 

 The boat was now pushed to the tail of the decoys, and 

 the two ducks put out there. Then John pushed the 

 skiff along the marsh, hid it behind a little point, and 

 soon was heard coming crashing through the cane to- 

 ward the blind. 



Meantime I had not been idle. I had brought every- 

 thing to the blind, had set up in the ground the four 

 forked sticks which were to support the two guns, had 

 taken off the gun covers, opened the ammunition box, 

 loaded one gun with duck cartridges and one with 

 those for geese, had fixed the chairs, had broken an 

 armful of cane and begun to repair the blind. In a 

 short time, with John's assistance, the work was all 



