BLACKGAME 251 



land above, he can give you a return drive 

 by bringing the rest of the long straggling 

 wood back to the guns. 



But it will take the men the best part 

 of an hour to get round, so there will 

 be plenty of time to go down and try 

 that swampy patch of reeds by the river 

 for a teal or a snipe, or possibly both, and 

 get back to your places before the drive 

 proper begins. 



Luck is undoubtedly with you to-day, 

 for as you steal quietly along the edge of 

 the reeds, one along each side, three 

 mallard rise from the shallows between, of 

 which only one makes good his escape. 

 One is only winged, and as the dog 

 plunges in to secure him, half a dozen 

 snipe rise scap-ing from the far end. 

 One falls to your double discharge, a very 

 long shot, and two jacks, rising at your 

 feet, fall easy victims. The drier rushes 

 beyond furnish a hare and two or three 

 rabbits, and as you retrace your footsteps 

 to the wood, a shadow falls across your 

 path, and you look up just in time to 



