irn tbe moot)s wttb tbe Bow 



ice In fire ; up went my bow and away sped 

 the arrow. It was preposterous to expect 

 a hit at that distance, but your archer al- 

 ways expects a hit; nor is his disappoint- 

 ment great when expectation ends as it 

 ended then. For he has learned the sweet 

 truth of that ancient saw : ** Pursuit is more 

 enjoyable than possession." One of the 

 birds saw me getting ready to shoot, and 

 flew. The other one, however, stood its 

 ground, acting as if it spied something in 

 the water that it meant to get. The dis- 

 tance was so great that I could not be sure ; 

 but I could have enthusiastically deposed 

 that the shaft struck exactly between that 

 doddler's feet in the sand. Certainly it 

 knocked some pebbles hither and yon. 

 And the bird was so scared by the stroke 

 that, instead of flying, it lifted its wings, and, 

 as it seemed to me, with its feathers all on 

 end and its beak wide open, stared at the 

 firmly planted missile as at an apparition 

 astonishing beyond endurance. Then it 

 sprang into the air and zigzagged crazily 

 away. 



A sparrow-hawk next got my attention 

 238 



