274 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



ened rain at the moment of our departure, and conse- 

 quently we strapped up our waterproofs and carried them 

 with us. We had not tramped more than a half-mile when 

 the earnest barking of the dogs a few rods from the road 

 proclaimed to us that they had found a partridge. "Jim" 

 was eager for sport, and therefore disregarded the pros- 

 pect of receiving a shower-bath ; rushed rapidly from the 

 road to the woods, where we soon heard him shouting to- 

 the lad to " come and kill the bird." The boy was off in 

 the twinkling of an eye, perfectly willing to take a cold 

 shower-bath if he could kill a single partridge. 



I was surprised that "Jim" should have shown so much 

 anxiety in regard to the lad's shooting in this particular 

 case ; but I subsequently learned that he was unable to 

 work his gun, owing to the fact that his cartridges had 

 been thoroughly saturated with water. The boy's arrival 

 on the ground was a little too late, since the bird had 

 shifted its position and they were unable to find it after- 

 wards, although they spent fully twenty minutes in the 

 search, and finally returned from the swamp as wet as 

 drowned rats. 



"Jim's" manner indicated that he was much chagrined 

 by the failure, but by philosophically reasoning he had suc- 

 ceeded in convincing himself of the wisdom of his action, 

 and boldly asserted that " I shall no longer dread to enter 

 the swamp, since I care nothing for either mud or water." 

 We now journeyed on, and were very soon informed by 

 our dogs that they had found another partridge in the 

 swamp, not more than ten rods from the road on which we 

 were tramping. "Jim" instantly sprung into the woods and 



