336 Sporting Sketches 



deferred, and then and then a turkey would be 

 mine ! I fairly grinned over that layout. 



But where to hide? Not an available point 

 offered ; the track was as bare as the rifle barrel, 

 and the road-bed was elevated so much above the 

 level of the woods that it could not be properly com- 

 manded, except I climbed a tree, which would be 

 altogether unsuitable. 



The culvert ! 



Yes, the culvert ; but the ice would barely hold, 

 thought I. However, a look at it would do no 

 harm. I carefully tested it, and found that owing 

 to its narrowness and the grip the timber walls 

 afforded the ice it would just bear me. Happy 

 thought ; a board off yon gate broken in two and 

 cushioned with a layer of dry grass and stuff would 

 make a comfortable resting-place, and spread its 

 pressure on the ice sufficiently to make all safe. 

 The board was soon secured, placed in two halves 

 on the ice, and padded with handfuls of withered 

 herbage, and I was all ready for business. Sitting 

 upon my boards, I could just comfortably raise my 

 eyes above the track, and if I got upon my knees, 

 the edge of the culvert afforded a dead rest for my 

 elbow, and I felt I couldn't miss a turkey at one 

 hundred yards if I tried. It was superb, and I 

 grinned some more. This was just the luckiest, 

 laziest turkey-shoot on record. 



For some time I sat there, closely watching the 

 track and the woods upon either side. It was tedious, 

 cold work enough, and in due time I grew weary 

 and cramped from the confined position and varied 

 things by creeping out of my shelter and having a 



