•ffn tbe TKHoobs witb tbc Bow 



and drop under the bank of the opposite 

 stretch of the river. So finally I tied my 

 pirogue and went afoot to try creeping. 

 This, on account of a thin brush growth at 

 the edge of the banks, which were in some 

 places steep and high, offered a better 

 chance of success. After an hour and a 

 half of hard but exhilarating work, missing 

 many shots and losing four good arrows, 

 I killed my two birds and bore them in 

 triumph to Jarvis's cabin. Here again I 

 may take a page or two out of my note- 

 book: 



Made a fine shot this P.M., killing a wood-duck 

 under the bank diagonally across the river, from 

 where I stood full seventy yards. Had missed 

 eleven shots, and gone miles back and forth, much 

 of the time crawling from one reach of the stream 

 to the other. It actually looked as if I could not 

 do anything but shoot over a bird, or short of 

 it, or to one side or the other. This sort of luck 

 is hard on one's nerv^es. Found myself bathed in 

 perspiration, mopping my face, as excited as though 

 I had been stalking tigers. The ducks were not 

 very shy at first, but shooting at them soon made 

 them skittish. Killed my first one by an easy 

 plunging shot — plumped a shaft almost straight 

 downward upon its back from a bluff's edge. But 

 230 



