QUAIL SHOOTING 307 



over his back, and, unless the enemy have been re- 

 inforced, he may be sitting there yet. 



To return to the quail ; no wonder they were wild. 

 No wonder that when they were flushed they flew 

 like bullets, and flew far. But we got a goodly bag, 

 and when it was too dark to shoot any more we 

 climbed the hills to the farmhouse, hung up our 

 birds, and, hungry as hunters ever were, sat down 

 again to boiled cabbage and "fried things." "We 

 were early to bed. Eight of the clock found us sound 

 asleep, and at daylight we were again up and doing. 



The plantation on which we were domiciled had 

 been tilled and planted with tobacco and other crops 

 for more than a hundred years, and the soil bids fair 

 to last for a hundred more, notwithstanding the bad 

 repute that tobacco has for its exhaustion. 



It is a little strange that the moral and physical 

 ailments of the people hereabouts are so inconsider- 

 able. "Preachin'" is a physic they don't seem to 

 relish — a dose of it once a month being all that they 

 think it necessary for them to swallow. Their bodily 

 ills they entrust to a pair of doctors whose shops are 

 far away — one of them seven, and the other eleven 

 miles. These ^sculapians have a sharp eye for 

 business and conduct it strictly on the " spot cash " 

 principle. One of them charges $2.00 and the other 

 $2.50 for each visit, and they insist upon having their 

 fee in advance — a rule probably based on their knowl- 



