THE WILD GOOSE. 325 



time to shake hands over the result, and form a mutual 

 admiration society, another flock was seen approaching, 

 and with a rapidity that warned us to get to cover as soon 

 as possible. I had hardly time to catch up an armful of 

 straw, and get into the stubble and lie down, before they 

 were over us. Just how many we dropped out of this 

 flock I can not at this day recall. Perhaps we didn't get 

 any. It was a poor time for book-keeping; I can distinctly 

 remember that; also recollect that we were just a little bit 

 rattled for a time. The ball was now fairly opened, and 

 how the geese did come into that field ! Never before or 

 since have I seen geese as we saw them that day. For 

 another such an opportunity I would willingly travel 

 hundreds of miles. For an hour the birds came in over 

 the field with but a few minutes interval between the 

 arrivals. Within the hour, and before we left the vicinity, 

 not less than fifty flocks came into the field, averaging 

 from twenty to fifty to the flock. We had no decoys, no 

 pits dug, and no blinds of any kind. We simply lay on 

 our backs in the stubble, with a little straw over our legs, 

 and as the geese would come in and circle over the field, 

 we would raise up to a sitting posture and let them have 

 it. Often they would be too high for effective work, and 

 all were killed at long distances. Once Tom killed three 

 out of the same flock, in three different shots, before they 

 could get away. That is what you might call quick work. 

 We exhausted about sixty shells each, and then, of course, 

 had to quit. We had seventeen geese to show for them. 

 Not very many for so much ammunition, you think? 

 Well, no, but under the conditions we labored it was a 

 fair bag, and we were too well satisfied to complain; but 

 often afterward we talked over that afternoon's sport, and 

 estimated how many we could bring to the earth did just 

 such an opportunity occur again, and we never placed it 

 much less than seventy-five. We found it impossible to 



