GEESE 269 



be found, but after proceeding for some 300 yards, 

 I floundered into a thick reed-bed, and as this pro- 

 vided good shelter I decided to remain there until the 

 moon got up. It was bitterly cold, and I had not the 

 solace of a pipe, for I dare not strike a light, as that 

 would, of course, be seen by any geese in the vicinity, 

 causing them perhaps to put off their visit for some 

 long time after the moon arose. Still, the half-hour spent 

 thus was not wanting in excitement, for I anxiously 

 gazed over the water in momentary expectation of 

 seeing the flashes from the big guns of the puntsmen. 

 At length they came, and with such startling sudden- 

 ness did the bright streaks of fire pierce the gloom 

 that, although looking out for them, they made me 

 jump. Then there was a tremendous outcry amongst 

 the geese, and soon I heard them trailing off in various 

 directions. Some, by the increasing loudness of their 

 clamour, 1 knew to be coming in my direction, whilst 

 the notes of others, dying away in the distance, showed 

 that they, wisely enough, sought safety in the opposite 

 quarter. Both men, I knew, were provided with 

 "cripple-stoppers," that is, small guns for despatching 

 the winged and wounded ; but the fact that these were 

 not brought into play proved that either it was too 

 dark to see a wounded bird at any distance on the 

 water, or that the shots had failed to score. 



Soon afterwards, as the sky brightened and the moon 

 appeared, I had other things to engage my attention, 

 for geese then began to come en to the island. Almost 

 before it was light enough to see birds in the air a small 

 bunch of geese flew past my stand, and after one recon- 

 noitring flight they settled within 200 yards of where I 

 was kneeling. Ten minutes afterwards a goose-call came 



