198 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



and no small disappointment ; but I had 

 seen the shot fired, and that was something 

 as is plain from the fact that I remember 

 it so vividly these many years afterward. 

 The names of the principal towns of Indiana 

 long ago folded their tents like the Arabs 

 and silently stole away, but I can still see 

 that shoemaker running out of his shop. 



It was a common practice, I was to learn 

 as I grew older, for shoemakers to keep a 

 loaded gun standing in a corner, ready for 

 such contingencies. There was a tradition 

 in the town that a certain man (I have for- 

 gotten his name, or I would bracket it with 

 Mr. Roosevelt's) had once brought down a 

 goose in this way. It is by no means im- 

 possible ; for flocks of geese were an every- 

 day sight in the season (I am sure I have 

 seen twenty in an afternoon), and some- 

 times, in thick weather, they almost grazed 

 the chimney-tops. Geese (of that kind) 

 have grown sadly fewer since then, and per- 

 haps have learned to fly higher. 



After the hunting reminiscences would 

 likely enough come a discussion of fast 

 horses, Flora Temple and others includ- 



