190 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 



then up they rose clearly defined against the sky, and wheeled 

 in short zigzags above the plain, as if uncertain whither they 

 should fly, till at length they launched off straight to the right 

 hand, and after a flight of a full mile, pitched suddenly and 

 steeply down behind a clump of newly budding birches. 



" I knows where them jokers be, Mr. Archer ;" exclaimed 

 Yari Dyne. 



" In heaven, I guess the)'' be, 7 ' responded Master Draw ; 

 " leastwise they flew far enough to be there, anyhow !" 



" No, no ! Tom, they've not gone so very far," said Archer, 

 " and there's good lying for them there, I shall be satisfied if 

 they all go that way. To ho ! to ho !" he interrupted himself, 

 for the dogs had both come to a dead point among some tall 

 flags ; and Shot's head cocked on one side, with his nose pointed 

 directly downward, and his brow furrowed into a knotty frown, 

 showed that the bird was under his very feet. " Come up, Tom 

 come up, you old sinner don't you see Shot's got a snipe 

 under his very nose ?" 



" Well ! well ! I sees," answered Tom ; " I sees it, darn you ! 

 but give a fellow time, you'd best, in this etarnal miry mud- 

 hole !" and, sinking mid leg deep at every step, the fat man 

 floundered on, keeping, however, his gun ever in position, and 

 his keen quick eye steadily fixed on the stanch setter. 



" Are you ready, now ? I'll flush him," exclaimed Harry, 

 taking a step in advance ; and instantly up sprang the bird, with 

 his sharp, thrice- repeated cry, and a quick flutter of his wings, 

 almost straight into the air over the head of Tom, striving to 

 get the wind. 



Bang ! Draw's first barrel was discharged, the snipe being 

 at that moment scarce ten feet from the muzzle, the whole load 

 going like a bullet, of course harmlessly ! his second followed, 

 but, like the first, in vain ; for the bird, having fairly weathered 

 him, was flying very fast, and twisting all the time, directly up 

 wind. Then Harry's gun was pitched up, and the trigger drawn 

 almost before the butt was at his shoulder. Down went the 

 bird ; slanting away six yards, though killed stone dead, in the 

 direction of his former flight, so rapidly had he been going, 

 when the shot struck him. 



" Mark ! mark !'' I shouted, " Harry. Mark ! mark ! behind 

 you !" As three more birds took wing, before the red dog, and 

 were bearing off, too far from me, to the right hand, like those 

 which had preceded them. I had, when I cried " mark," not 



