WARWICK WOODLANDS. 157 



and brown on the outside, and full of gravy when you cut ; 

 with a squeeze of a lemon and a dash of cayenne it is sublime* 

 What say you, Forester ?" 



" Oh, you wont ketch him sayin' nauthen, leastwise not this 

 half hour but the way he'll keep a feedin' wont be slow, I 

 tell you that's the way to judge how Forester likes his grub 

 jest see how he takes hold on V 



" Are there many wood-duck about this season, Tom ?" asked 

 Forester, affecting to be .perfectly careless and indifferent to all 

 that had passed. " Did you kill these yourself?" 



" There was a sight on them a piece back, but they're gittin' 

 scase pretty scase now, I tell you. Yes, I shot these down 

 by Aunt Sally's big spring-hole a Friday. I'd been a lookin' 

 round, you see, to find where the quail kept afore you came up 

 here for I'd a been expectin' you a week and better and I'd 

 got in quite late, toward sundown, with an outsidin' bevy, down 

 by the cedar swamp, and druv them off into the big bog 

 meadows, below Sugar-loaf, and I'd killed quite a bunch on 

 them sixteen, I reckon, Archer ; and there wasn't but eighteen 

 when I lit on 'em and it was gittin' pretty well dark when I 

 came to the big spring, and little Dash was worn dead out, and 

 1 was tired, and hot, and thunderin' thirsty, so I sets down 

 aside the outlet where the spring water comes in good and cool, 

 and I was mixin' up a nice long drink in thejbig glass we hid 

 last slimmer down in the mudhole, with some great cider sper- 

 rits when what should I hear all at once but whistle, whistlin' 

 over head, the wings of a whole drove on 'em, so up I buckled 

 the old gun ; but they'd plumped down into the crick fifteen 

 rod off or better, down by the big pin oak, and there they sot, 

 seven ducks and two big purple-headed drakes beauties, I tell 

 you. Well, boys, I upped gun and tuck sight stret away, but 

 just as I was drawin', I kind o' thought I'd got two little char- 

 ges of number eight, and that to shoot at ducks at fifteen rod 

 wasn't nauthen. Well, then, I fell a thinkin', and then I 

 sairched my pockets, and arter a piece found two green car- 

 tridges of number three, as Archer gave me in the Spring, so I 

 dravved out the small shot, and inned with these, and put fresh 

 caps on to be sarten. But jest when I'd got ready, the ducks 

 had floated down with the stream, and dropped behind the 

 pint so I downed on my knees, and crawled, and Dash along 

 side on me, for all the world as if the darned dog knowed ; 

 well, I crawled quite a piece, till I'd got under a bit of alder 



