116 SPOUTING ADVENTURES 



The native sportsman, armed with a rusty 

 old musket heavily charged, takes his place 

 amongst the rushes by the waterside about 

 daybreak, and disdaining single birds, or flying 

 shots, he waits till he sees a good flock of duck 

 on the water, when, stripping off every vestige 

 of clothing, he glides into the water like an 

 alligator, which indeed he somewhat resembles. 

 Sinking himself till only his head is visible, 

 with his right hand he grasps the gun, holding 

 the barrel horizontal, and just clear of the 

 water, and in this way, propelling himself with 

 his legs on the bottom, he stealthily approaches 

 the ducks till within fifteen or twenty yards, 

 when a dose of slugs into the brown of them 

 often kills a dozen and wounds as many more. 

 Three or four such shots make up a heavy bag, 

 with which the Indian trudges back to the 

 town, and sells them in the market for one 

 " bit " each, or eight for a dollar. 



I was out one evening with a companion, 

 who mistook one of these fellows in the twilight 

 for an alligator, and gave him a charge of No. 5 



