9 2 HUNTING TRIPS 



cotton-wood saplings ; so the chance to creep 

 up was very good. On getting round the 

 bend I poked my head through the bushes, 

 and saw that the little bunch I was after 

 had joined a great flock of teal, which was 

 on a sand bar in the middle of the stream. 

 They were all huddled together, some stand- 

 ing on the bar, and others in the water right 

 by it, and I aimed for the thickest part of 

 the flock. At the report they sprang into 

 the air, and I leaped to my feet to give them 

 the second barrel, when, from under the bank 

 right beneath me, two shoveller or spoon-bill 

 ducks rose, with great quacking, and, as they 

 were right in line, I took them instead, 

 knocking both over. When I had fished out 

 the two shovellers, I waded over to the sand 

 bar and picked up eleven teal, making thir- 

 teen ducks with the two barrels. 



On one occasion my brother and myself 

 made a short wagon trip in the level, fertile, 

 farming country, whose western edge lies 

 many miles to the east of the Bad Lands 

 around my ranch. There the land was al- 



