IN THE PACIFIC. 257 



ligence ; he had never seen birds killed on the 

 wing before, and the rapidity with which a 

 snap-actioned breech-loader could be loaded and 

 fired quite astonished him ; leaving the canoe, 

 he danced about the marsh, picking up the 

 ducks which were falling in all directions. The 

 shots alarmed all the birds in the neighbour- 

 hood, and the place seemed alive with duck and 

 teal, which kept flying overhead presenting 

 every variety of shot. There was shooting 

 enough for a dozen guns, and I hoped that 



E , hearing the shots, might join me, but as it 



turned out, he was at that moment many miles 

 away. I blazed away until my gun was hot, 

 and the ammunition beginning to give out, 

 when we set to work to gather up the slain. 

 Whilst I had been shooting, the alligators had 

 not been idle, and all my birds which had fallen 

 in deep water had disappeared, many of the 

 cripples also had escaped in the rushes ; how- 

 ever, we picked up at this one place fifteen 

 brace of ducks, and a couple of teal. The sun 

 was setting as we turned our faces towards 



s 



