96 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



water, and after a run, causing roars of laughter, 

 we see him bend down and effect a capture. 



Dry land at last ! The sun has departed leaving 

 the western sky glowing with red and saffron, 

 against which, as we turn to take a last look 

 over the water, we see in the distance a skein 

 of geese, the van of the legions which are about 

 to retake possession of their own. 



We lose no time over the road to " town," as my 

 native assistant used to call our headquarters, 

 and the ride home in the dark is not the pleasant- 

 est part of the day. Those return processions 

 of the British Consul's party, cold, wet, plastered 

 with mud, and hung about with geese, used to 

 attract a lot of attention in the Seistan bazar. 

 The Persian crowd knew better than to make 

 remarks, but we could guess the thought at the 

 back of their minds: "For Allah has made the 

 English mad, the maddest of all mankind " noth- 

 ing less ! 



The grey-lag is the only goose that commonly 

 occurs in Seistan, and all our bags were made 

 up of these noble birds. I once only saw on the 

 water some dark- winged geese of what I think 

 was another kind, but did not get a shot at 

 them. As to bags, I see in my diary that among 

 our best was one of 22 geese and 1 duck, and 

 another 52 duck and 6 geese, both to two guns. 



