RAIL SHOOTING. 145 



" Now," says the roguish pusher, gently lift- 

 ing and inserting his pole into the mud as the 

 skiff shoots into a thick growth of reeds, " Now, 

 sir, left leg forward right leg behind stand 

 steady shoot quick load fast, and leave -the 

 rest to me. Mark !" 



"Bang! bang!" 



A very palpable miss each time, and the bird 

 which has risen directly in front within a few 

 feet of the boat, nutters slowly over the tops of 

 the reeds, with its legs hanging loosely down, 

 and almost instantly drops out of sight again, 

 while the unfortunate marksman, thrown vio- 

 lently from his centre of gravity by a sudden 

 treacherous movement of the skiff, stumbles for- 

 ward over his rail box, and catching at the gun- 

 wale, pitches head foremost, gun and all, over 

 the bow. 



" Why bless my soul !" exclaims the villainous 

 author of the catastrophe, with a great show of 

 surprise, " I never seed the likes. Did you do 

 that on purpose, sir ? You're the very quickest 

 gentleman out of a boat, I ever pushed. You 

 hit that rail too: I seed him drop his legs." 



" Go to the devil!" exclaims the fat gentleman, 

 wiping his face and clambering back into the 

 boat in high wrath. 



