CHAPTER NINETEEN WILD GEESE 



the by.had in itaboutafootofthecoldest water that I ever 

 felt. It was deep enough, however, to conceal us entirely, 

 and following Simon I went about three hundred yards 

 down the drain, till we came to another which ran at right 

 angles to the first ; we turned along this ditch.which, not be- 

 ing cut so deep as the other, obliged us to stoop in a man- 

 ner that made my back ache most unmercifully. Simon ap- 

 peared to understand exactly what he was at, and to have 

 a perfect knowledge of the geography of all the drains in 

 the country. Putting on a nondescript kind of cap, made of 

 dirty canvas, exactly the colour of a ploughed field, he 

 peered cautiously through a bunch of rushes which grew 

 on the edge of the ditch; then looking at me with a most 

 satisfied grin, floundered on again till he came to another 

 ditch that crossed us at right angles; up this he went, and 

 of course I had nothing to do but to follow, though as I 

 occasionally sank above my knees into cold spring water, 

 I began to wish all the wild geese were consigned to his 

 black majesty: we went about a hundred yards up this last 

 drain, till we came to a part where a few rushes grew on 

 the banks; looking through these we saw about fifty geese 

 coming straight towards us, feeding; we got our guns 

 cautiously on the top of the bank and waited till the birds 

 were within twenty-five yards of us, then they began to 

 turn to cross the field back again. Some were within shot, 

 however.and on our giving a low whistle they ran together, 

 preparatory to rising; this was our moment : only one of my 

 barrels went off, the other having got wet through, copper 

 cap and everything, during our progress in the ditch. We, 

 however, bagged three birds, and another flew wounded 

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