ON FOWLERS AND WILD-FOWLING. 167 



Tradition said that he had on one particular occa- 

 sion cut one of his wife's clothes-props in half, 

 pointing the lower part of the forked portion, to 

 serve as a gun-rest. This was for a long shot. As 

 the subject had led on one or two occasions to some 

 remarkably hard hitting, given and received, it was 

 not often mentioned. 



I knew the whole history of those six guns by 

 heart, for when one or the other could get me to 

 himself he would tell me what she would do. One 

 and all of them had miraculous killing powers, " ef 

 they could on'y get among 'em '' (the fowl). This 

 they certainly did at times. As to the very ancient 

 " musketoon," as its owner called it, she eclipsed 

 the lot. He would launch out about raking a lot 

 of widgeon, at feed on the slub. I should not like 

 to state how many times that tale has been told 

 by him, but I always listened to it with profound 

 respect. It was her wonderful spreading power, he 

 said, did it. He had taken her out one day and got 

 left in his punt, high and dry in a deep gully. There 

 he had to wait till the tide flowed. As he lay there 

 out of sight, some widgeon pitched to feed just in 

 front, and well within shot. He fired and got a 



