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faint streak of light was visible in the east, 

 so that objects on the water could hardly be 

 made out ; and the little wreaths of mist that 

 rose from the river made the difficulty even 

 greater. The birds were some distance 

 above me, where the water made a long 

 straight stretch through a sandy level. I 

 could not see them, but could plainly hear 

 their low murmuring and splashing, and 

 once one of them, as I judged by the sound, 

 stood up on end and flapped its wings vigor- 

 ously. Pretty soon a light puff of wind 

 blew the thin mist aside, and I caught a 

 glimpse of them; as I had supposed, they 

 were wild geese, five of them, swimming 

 slowly, or rather resting on the water, and 

 being drifted down with the current. The 

 fog closed over them again, but it was grow- 

 ing light very rapidly, and in a short time 

 I knew they would be in the still water of the 

 bend just below me, so I rose on my elbows 

 and held my rifle ready at the poise. In a 

 few minutes, before the sun was above the 

 horizon, but when there was plenty of light 



