A NOBLE BAG. 267 



report of my gun or my presence, and flew frequently 

 within fifteen or twenty yards in the most leisurely 

 and business-like manner. Again and again I loaded 

 and shot till my barrels got agreeably warm. Old 

 Nep, my retriever, soon had the ground around my 

 feet thickly strewn with slain, and when an unfortu- 

 nate duck less severely peppered than others, or only 

 broken-winged, would attempt to hobble off, Master 

 Nep would give him a pinch about the regions of the 

 cranium that immediately reduced the most obstrepe- 



* rous to submission. Geese commenced to arrive 

 after I had been at work about half-an-hour; first a 

 solitary gander, whose coat I dusted and secured, 

 next two or three, and ultimately half-dozens and 

 dozens, while the duck whistled by with all the velo- 

 city of sky-rockets. By four P.M. my powder-flask 

 commenced to show signs of giving out, and with 

 sickly, hollow rattle proclaimed that the remaining 

 charges were few. To prolong the sport I reduced 

 my charges, but still the end was drawing near, and 

 could only be delayed a few minutes, for with regret, 

 though the snow was now falling fast and the weather 



A anything but enjoyable, I was brought to a halt. On 

 collecting the spoil I had nineteen geese and forty-one 



^ ducks, a load sufficient for a Canadian pony. How- 

 ever, I managed to stow them .all in a fence corner, 

 there to remain till sent for, and most unwillingly I 

 turned towards home. My last view of the field was 

 of broad hills in ever increasing regiments rushing on 

 to the devoted crop, and I have little doubt, if my am- 

 munition had lasted, that I could have shown a score 

 that had seldom previously been made. 



