GEESE 



I arose at dawn with a hollow cough and all 

 the premonitory symptoms of pneumonia, but 

 Duchess appeared to be none the worse for her 

 wetting, and we felt a great relief. It would 

 have been a sad interruption to our outing 

 had either dog fallen ill. 



That day, while the boat was being out- 

 fitted, Max and I hired an automobile and 

 went out to start a rolling barrage against the 

 quail. The dogs were shivering with excite- 

 ment when we put them into the first field, 

 but they had nothing on us, for few thrills 

 exceed that of the hunter who, after a year 

 indoors, slips a pair of shells into his gun and 

 says, ''Let's go." 



But within a half hour we knew we had 

 pulled a flivver. Out of the entire state of 

 North Carolina we had selected the one sec- 

 tion where big, inch-long cockleburs were too 

 thick for dogs to work. Nothing less than a 

 patent-leather dachshund could have lived in 

 those fields. In no time Duke and Duchess 

 were burred up so solidly they could hardly 

 move. They were bleeding; their spun-silk 

 coats were matted and rolled until their skins 

 were as tight as drum heads; their plumy tails 

 were like baseball bats, and they weighed so 



2 II 



