208 OLD PLYMOUTH TRAILS 



dogwood poisoning pretty bad. He used to have 

 it every year after that, about the time the first 

 northeaster set in." 



Anybody who knows Muddy Pond will know 

 that Jotham's story ought to be true, for the pond 

 is there to prove it, just as he describes it. 



"Of course," says Jotham at this point, "that 

 was skill. Not one hunter in a hundred would 

 have thought to bend his gun so as to throw the 

 shot in a circle or would have been able to esti- 

 mate the 'amount of the curve so exactly right. 

 Another thing happened to my grandfather over 

 at that pond that was part skill and part luck. 

 He was on his way home from partridge shooting 

 one day just before Thanksgiving. He found he 

 was out of shot just before he got to the pond. 

 His flask had leaked and let every bit of the shot 

 out, and when he came to load up after shooting 

 his last partridge he stopped with the powder, for 

 there was no shot to put in. Just then he came 

 in sight of the pond and there were seven geese 

 swimming round in it; and that the day before 

 Thanksgiving ! 



"It was a tough time to be without any shot, 

 but grandfather was equal to the emergency. 



