82 HUNTING TRIPS 



slowly down the length of the meadow to- 

 wards the end nearest me, where the patch 

 of small trees and brushwood lay. A goose 

 is not as big game as an antelope; still I 

 had never shot a snow-goose, and we needed 

 fresh meat, so I slipped back over the crest 

 and ran down to the bed of the creek, round 

 a turn of the hill, where the geese were out 

 of sight. The creek was not an entirely dry 

 one, but there was no depth of water in it 

 except in certain deep holes; elsewhere it 

 was a muddy ditch with steep sides, difficult 

 to cross on horseback because of the quick- 

 sands. I walked up to the trees without any 

 special care, as they screened me from view, 

 and looked cautiously out from behind them. 

 The geese were acting just as our tame geese 

 act in feeding on a common, moving along 

 with their necks stretched out before them, 

 nibbling and jerking at the grass as they 

 tore it up by mouthfuls. They were very 

 watchful, and one or the other of them had 

 its head straight in the air looking sharply 

 round all the time. Geese will not come 



