86 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



altogether suitable for a lady ! The wife and I 

 let ourselves down and set to work to get things 

 snug, while D. goes on to the next. Our horses 

 are taken to land, and Ibrahim and the levies 

 move off to begin the drive. We can see them 

 canter along the shore for a quarter of a mile, and 

 then at long intervals enter the water to get 

 behind the geese. By this time we are prepared. 

 Our seats, two small boxes, face the right way, 

 cartridge bags have been hung on tent pegs 

 pushed into the muddy walls, and the grass and 

 twigs arranged to give as much cover as possible. 

 Our heads are about the level of the water, but 

 a high goose could certainly see into the hole to 

 some extent, so we huddle under the front wall. 



Looking cautiously through the low fringe of 

 grass, we can see the horsemen, mere dots in 

 the distance, riding backwards and forwards in 

 the water. Presently a muffled roar comes to 

 our ears, water lashed into foam by thousands 

 of pinions. A dark cloud hangs in the air. The 

 geese are up ! No they are down again, but 

 nearer. We can now see them, a long line sil- 

 houetted against the sky a truly mighty con- 

 course. We can even distinguish the general 

 agitation pervading the mass, and the craning 

 and preening going on amongst the nearest birds. 

 The air is full of the prolonged diapason of their 



