200 MOOSE-HUNTING, SALMON-FISHING, ETC 



he begins strutting, " What kind of a scrape 

 have we got into ? " The more he investigated, 

 the less he seemed to be satisfied. He would 

 have been much less so had he seen two No. 

 8 barrels pointing at him. Now he walks to 

 the others, apparently for consultation. Poor 

 fellows ! Must I break it up ? Just then that 

 kind streak of mine cropped up again, the 

 outcome of which was that, as they must be 

 very tired, charity required me to shoot them, 

 and shoot them I did, four of them not know- 

 ing what happened, the two other starting up 

 for the channel opening, got safely away, as I 

 supposed, through the left barrel snapping. 



The cook found a goose on the ice opposite 

 the house that evening, which must have been 

 one of them. As these were gathered up and 

 spread out on the ice with the others, the 

 sight satisfied me. The boys wouldn't have 

 much of a laugh on the old man, nor did they ; 

 for when they came along at noon, I went out 

 to meet them. You can imagine they were 

 very inquisitive as to my luck, and they found 

 me equally communicative, of course, to satisfy 

 their curiosity. Their luck was offset by one 

 gander and three black ducks. The help of 



