LAST OF RED DEER LAKE 137 



for a shot we found an impossibility, as their 

 detectives, the old ganders, had as keen eyes 

 as we. As fast as we creeped, so fast they 

 walked, and they were well schooled in the 

 safety line. We thought, when it became dusk, 

 we might get upon them, forgetting that the 

 ganders' heads and eyes were always in the air, 

 and they had the advantage of the light back- 

 ground, while we, creeping, had a dark one. 

 By this they were able to lead the geese out of 

 harm's way every time we attempted to ap- 

 proach them; so we had to give in, acknowledg- 

 ing ourselves beaten at the heel of the hunt. 



Five geese such as we had in the carriage 

 would have been, and are, a very respectable 

 afternoon's sport for ordinary mortals, but for 

 sportsmen that had been gathering them by 

 the dozen, it seemed a great come-down. 

 The knoll-shot finished the week's shooting, 

 and the next morning I bade my friend Harry 

 and his genial partner a regretful good-bye, 

 as it was likely to be, and was, the last cruise 

 made by me to the Bed Deer Lake. After 

 Harry had taken all the game he wished, the 

 waggon was literally packed with geese, ducks, 

 and chickens tied in. My approach to 



