BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



swept the shores of the estuary with the spy-glass, I had the 

 satisfaction of observing that my sport was not Ukely to be 

 anticipated by any wandering gunner, who might have per- 

 ceived the birds already, and perhaps venture on a random 

 shot before I could commence operations, or even decide on 

 the best mode of carrying them into effect. There was not 

 a human being within sight, nor could I discover a single boat 

 on the surface of the water. I had hardly congratulated 

 myself on this fortunate circumstance, when a distant object 

 arrested my attention. It looked at first like a plank of wood, 

 or the trunk of a dead tree, as it floated down a narrow creek, 

 and seemed to be carried here and there at the mercy of the 

 current ; still there was something suspicious about it which 

 prevented me from looking at anything else, and I continued 

 to watch its movements with increasing anxiety. 



' On reaching the open water it turned round, apparently 

 in an eddy of the tide, and gave me an opportunity of exam- 

 ining its outline as the broadside was turned towards me for 

 an instant. There was nothing, however, in this hasty 

 glimpse calculated to increase my alarm ; on the contrary, I 

 now felt more than ever convinced that I was looking at an 

 inanimate log, and my only fear at this moment was that it 

 might be drifted by the tide — which would begin to ebb — or 

 by the irregular course of the channel, to that part of the har- 

 bour where the hoopers were still sailing in apparent security, 

 and alarm them prematurely. On a sudden, however, it seemed 

 to alter its course and to move slowly under the shadow of 

 the bank, or, as the sailors term it, to " hug the shore " : 

 it was apparently propelled by some hidden power, for it no 

 longer wheeled about, but advanced steadily with one end 

 foremost, and as I watched its movements while it crept 

 cautiously along, I fancied every now and then that I could 

 distinguish the slight splash of a paddle, and my heart sank 

 within me. It was evidently the gun-boat of a wild-fowl 

 shooter, and of one who was no novice in the craft ; but when 

 the first feeling of disappointment had passed away, I easily 



116 



