268 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



phically to regard the most tempting-looking gatherings 

 of these geese with perfect equanimity. 



One afternoon my old punting friend invited me to 

 accompany him on a foray after the grey geese. He 

 had been carefully watching them for some nights, and 

 thought the time had arrived when a heavy shot might 

 be made, and as each of our punt-guns carried a charge 

 of 20 to 22 oz. of shot, he reckoned that with luck we 

 might return with forty or fifty geese aboard. Unfor- 

 tunately I could not close with his kind offer, as I had 

 made arrangements to visit an island close by, there 

 to await the coming of the geese as the moon arose- 

 We pushed off at the same time, I to visit the island, 

 whilst he, with a fellow-professional, went in quest of 

 the geese we could hear calling upon a distant mud- 

 bank. We paddled side by side through one of the 

 blackest nights it has ever been my lot to be out in. 

 I remarked to these men that they would never be able 

 to discern the geese, but they replied that they would 

 shoot by sound if not by sight. Shortly afterwards I 

 turned off to go alongside the island, they continuing 

 their journey right out upon the inky waters. I had 

 to paddle about a mile before reaching the flighting- 

 ground, and several times on the way my punt ran 

 aground on one or other of the little mud promontories 

 jutting out from the island ; then I had to push off 

 and grope my way round them, the best way possible. 



At length, after about an hour, I considered I must 

 be nearly abreast of the flighting-ground, the boat was 

 run ashore, and, carrying the little anchor well up on 

 to the mud, and taking my 12-bore and cartridges, I 

 walked over in the direction of the shelter I had erected 

 for these night raids on the geese. No shelter was to 



