260 FEATHERED GAME 



as if for a quiet nap, but come out of your 

 trance very suddenly — the result of a vigorous 

 kick. ^' Quick, now! Wake up here!" ex- 

 claims the man at the scull-oar. ''The left!" 

 and up you get and bring your gun to bear on 

 a big gray bird rising out of the water seventy 

 yards away, the first one that catches your eye, 

 then see another about forty yards distant and 

 change to him. Meanwhile your companion, 

 who has been watching them and has had his 

 birds all selected, gets in his two barrels — so 

 near your head that the concussion of his eight- 

 bore well nigh splits your ear drum — before 

 you are fairly ready to shoot. But you add 

 your contribution to the general uproar and see 

 your second barrel double up a big goose, which 

 falls into the water like a ton of coal. ''Dead, 

 for a ducat ! " (If it was not the one you meant 

 there is no one to know it except yourself and 

 you think that you can keep a secret.) Your 

 first charge was not properly placed, a lurch of 

 the float as your companion swung having 

 thrown you off, but Tom's former experience 

 and longer training have shown their fruits in 

 his gathering two with his first, where three 

 necks stood in line, and one with the second bar- 



