102 Trails to Woods and Waters 



No more misfortunes befell the quail fam- 

 ily until the first day of the open season. 

 Then a party of sportsmen with dogs and 

 guns drove them from cover to cover, while 

 the guns cracked merrily. It was a cold, raw 

 day of scudding clouds and biting winds that 

 plainly told of coming winter. This, added 

 to the incessant roar of firearms, made that 

 day like the crack of doom to the family of 

 Bob-White. 



Towards night, a biting sleet and rain- 

 storm set in and the hunting ceased, but the 

 quail family had been scattered in every di- 

 rection and their friends at the farmhouse 

 wondered if any had survived, so the old man 

 and small boy went out into the storm to look 

 for the quail. The old man went ahead with 

 a long, swinging stride while the small boy 

 trotted after him. 



How cheerless was the sound of the hail 

 rattling upon the dead leaves and grass, and 

 the moaning of the winds in the treetops ! All 

 the joy and gladness seemed to have departed 

 from the naked, forsaken earth. 



