i 4 8 HUNTING TRIPS 



shooting in our rubber overcoats, as the 

 weather was cloudy and there were fre- 

 quent flurries of rain. 



We rested a couple of hours at noon for 

 lunch, and the afternoon's sport was simply 

 a repetition of the morning's, except that 

 we had but one dog to work with; for 

 shortly after mid-day the stub-tail pointer, 

 for his sins, encountered a skunk, with 

 which he waged prompt and valiant battle 

 thereby rendering himself, for the bal- 

 ance of the time, wholly useless as a servant 

 and highly offensive as a companion. 



The setter pup did well, ranging very 

 freely, but naturally got tired and careless, 

 flushing his birds half the time; and we 

 had to stop when we still had a good hour 

 of daylight left. Nevertheless we had in 

 our wagon, when we came in at night, a 

 hundred and five grouse, of which sixty- 

 two had fallen to my brother's gun, and 

 forty-three to mine. We would have done 

 much better with more serviceable dogs; 

 besides, I was suffering all day long from 



