" UNACCOUNTABLES " AND OTHER SHOTS 39 



way during the trip, the hammer of Mr. Noel's 

 gun, a single-barrelled one, dropped off and was 

 lost. As I really preferred carrying a rifle I 

 forced him to accept the use of my gun. We had 

 good sport, getting over a dozen fine grouse the 

 first day and as many more during the remaining 

 two days we spent there. We used to shoot turn 

 about, and whenever it was my turn, old Morasse 

 took great delight in watching me cut the bird's 

 heads off with the rifle, and just for amusement 

 would often request me to shoot at anything he 

 could sight. We had to cross the Ste. Anne's 

 River, and just opposite his residence there was a 

 short stretch of dead water, where the old man 

 had a scow. Coming over, on the second day, a 

 king-fisher flew past us, and alighted on an over- 

 hanging branch some distance up. " Quick, 

 shoot," said Morasse, "kill that poacher." "All 

 right," I answered, "just watch him. I will put 

 the bullet through his eye," and very strange to 

 say, it was exactly what happened. The bullet 

 had gone quite through both eyes. On measuring 

 the distance we found it was ninety-two yards. 

 "He must be linked with the Evil one," exclaim- 

 ed Morasse, when he saw where the bird was hit. 

 I imagined he looked upon me with dread after 

 that, and he told that story many times. Poor 

 old man, I was extremely sorry to hear that some 

 few years later he had accidentally killed himself 

 in taking his gun out of his scow. Reading the 



