IN CALIFORNIA MARSHES. 47I 



sconced in our blinds, banging away at a great rate, as 

 the ducks and geese came in very lively. 



We shot all the afternoon, and then, it being moon- 

 light, though very cloudy, we shot till late at night, 

 nearly ten o'clock. The Canada geese did not come in 

 till late, but when they did come, they came with a 

 vengeance. You could jump up and nearly hit them 

 with a gun. Our man joined us about dusk and started 

 to help us out with our game. We stopped shooting as 

 soon as our cartridges gave out and then proceeded to 

 get things together. We gathered in the decoys, had 

 the game drawn and packed in the pond boat with the 

 rest of the traps, which filled the boat to more than over- 

 flowing. And I wondered, when I looked at that load, 

 how we were going to get it to the yacht. Two of us 

 took hold of the rope at the bow and the other shoved, 

 and by dint of pulling and shoving we finally, after 

 nearly two hours' work, got the loaded boat to the 

 slough, where we transferred some of the birds to the 

 other boat, and, after launching it, were, after another 

 hour's work, aboard our yacht, with everything stowed 

 away. We were not long in getting asleep, and the or- 

 ders were that we were to be aroused about three a. m., 

 as soon as the tide changed, and get under way. 



The next thing I knew I suddenly awoke with the 

 sun streaming in the cabin skylight, and on looking out 

 the porthole above my berth I was very much surprised 

 to see the pile of a wharf obstructing my view. In fact 

 the two men had brought the yacht down during the 

 night, and we two hunters, being so tired, had slept 



