Hunting the Mud Pigeon 



Bv E(hvanl (\ ("rossinan 





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A squad moving up. The three men in tJie rear have fired and are moving. When the 

 iirst man has fired at five clay birds he will walk around the squad to the first position 



FIVE Strong men stood in a row, 

 armed with guns and evidently 

 much interested in something tliat 

 was going to happen in the httle house 

 out in front of them. There was not 

 much to the little house. It stood 

 possibly a foot and a half high at the 

 back end, toward the shooters, and six 

 inches higher at the front. Six feet 

 would span its length, four feet its 

 width. It wasn't much more than a 

 good substantial cover to the entrance 

 to a c\-lone-cellar. 



The strong man on the right end of 

 the line raised his shotgun and pointed 

 it apparently at the top of the little 

 house. He snuggled his face to the 

 stock, then he barked something that 

 sounded like "Pull," and from the 

 shelter of the little house, fleeing straight 

 awa>' from the line of men there sped a 

 little black and yellow saucer. It rose 

 as it tra\e!ed, and in the wink of an 

 eye it was far higher than our heads and 

 farther from the little house than the 

 distance to the row of men. 



Then the gun cracked, and the lleeing 



disk sudtlenK' Hew into a cloud of black 

 bits. They say it takes shot a little 

 lime to cover a distance, but the black 

 and yellow saucer smashed up almost 

 before the gun barked. 



The next man repeated the per- 

 formance, only the little saucer came 

 out from a different direction, sneaking 

 off swiftly to the right and away from 

 the line, but not so swifth' that the shot 

 didn't catch u|) with it and end its career. 

 The third sneaketl out the opjiosite way, 

 to the left, and it sped on, imharmed in 

 spite of the crack of the gim. The man 

 grinned a bit and shook his head, but 

 nobody spoke. So the shoot went on 

 until iinally we liegan to look at the 

 machinery that made the saucers hiss 

 so swiftly out of the house at the word 

 of command. 



IIozc the Clay Birds arc Launched 



A few yards back of the center man 

 of the row there stoo<l a bo\- with an 

 iron lever in his grasp. The ujiper end 

 reached to his waist, the lower end 

 disappe.ired in the ground. I'min nur 



5:il) 



