262 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



the acquaintance of a good-hearted, kind gentle- 

 man and thorough sportsman, whom the uncertainty 

 of worldly affairs had reduced much in pecuniary cir- 

 cumstances ; in those days, although I had expe- 

 rience, still, as now, I had much to learn ; my friend 

 was, if anything, my superior as a shot, more particu- 

 larly on wild fowl. On the breaking up of winter in 

 the spring of '65 in fact, the morning after a decided 

 thaw had set in he arrived at my house at an early 

 hour, and invited me to accompany him on the 

 prairie to kill duck. For some time previously all 

 the water that was stagnant, or had but slight current, 

 had been frozen, and there being in consequence no 

 feeding ground for the broad-bills, they had taken 

 their departure for more hospitable regions. My want 

 of success a few days before caused me to doubt if 

 better results could be obtained on this occasion, but 



being aware that H was better posted on these 



matters than any man in the vicinit} T , I shouldered 

 my ten-bore, straddled my Indian pony, and started 

 for what he considered the most appropriate place for 

 doing havock. On reaching the confines of the prairie, 

 we found that duck had come in, and in myriads. In 

 no direction could we gaze without seeing flights in 

 those strange mathematical figures which* they always 

 assume when on the wing. We at once held a council 

 of war, and determined to leave our steeds (having first 

 spread a horse blanket on each to protect them from 

 the bitter blast ; for every true votary of Diana is 

 humane, though the virgin goddess herself displayed 

 but little of this virtue to the unfortunate Action), 

 and after striking the wet land, to separate, one to 

 take the right side and the other the left. My clothes, 



