242 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



nor'-west ; \ve shall have the breeze in the old 

 quarter." 



" Here it comes," said Ben, " we shall kill 

 ducks fast before sun-down." 



'Whose scow is that anchored in shore in a 

 line with yon bluff, Ben?" 



" Baird's, I reckon," answered Ben, " and he 

 has had shooting ; the ducks have been flying 

 that way all the morning." 



The wind soon freshened, and the bay was 

 all animation again, the ducks flying in large 

 flocks, the batteries cannonading, boats plying 

 to and fro, and Fred shooting in a style not to be 

 surpassed. The puffs of smoke rising from the 

 water's edge, reminded us strongly of the hur- 

 ried glimpse which a sailor sometimes gets of a 

 white jet or spout, when he turns his head for a 

 moment, while pulling to windward in chase of 

 a gallied sperm whale ; and the sight of a dark 

 figure suddenly seen standing apparently on the 

 water a half a mile off, and then as suddenly 

 sinking again, bore some resemblance to a much 

 rarer sight, a whale's head thrust vertically out 

 of the sea, seen from the masthead at the hori- 

 zon's verge on a clear day. 



In the course of the afternoon Davis and our- 

 selves had a sharp chase after a crippled duck ; 



