88 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



leaders. The first goes on as if he had not felt 

 it ; the second gives a lurch, and comes down with 

 a hurtle and resounding splash. But another line 

 is almost past, another is behind that. To load ! 

 to load ! Fingers seem all thumbs. Eeader, have 

 you ever tried loading with barrels pointing up- 

 wards, and in a hurry ? It is not easy. These 

 kulas are too small for a second gun, or for a 

 single gun to be held in any position but muzzle 

 up. You want three hands. Cartridges slip out 

 of the barrels and fall into the water at the 

 bottom of the kula, now a foot deep ; you nip 

 your fingers ; the muzzle of your gun digs into 

 the mud wall in front, leaving the horrible im- 

 pression that there must be a fid of mud an 

 inch thick in the barrels. All this while the 

 geese are passing overhead the geese are passing 

 overhead. At such moments, to have a wife to 

 insert calmly, coolly, and neatly the cartridges 

 into the chambers, is of inexpressible value. 



Bang, bang, splash, and what a glorious splash 

 it is with which a dead goose meets the water ! 

 It is even glorious when the splash, a few feet 

 away, drenches us with water ! I have often 

 wondered why a goose never took his revenge 

 by falling, 8 Ib. of dead meat, into a kula! I 

 have never seen it happen, but it would be a 

 most unpleasant experience. 



