Old Punch. 



and as I came up rolled his eyes toward me and whined, 

 expecting me to kick him. The flush was no fault of his. I 

 patted him on the head and we followed them up. The next 

 time they held better and both chickens dropped at the crack 

 of my right and left barrels. At the word of command he 

 retrieved them promptly, and as I took the last bird from his 

 mouth and patted him on the head, Punch and I were firm 

 friends for life. 



As a general field dog for all kinds of game, he was grand. 

 He knew the habits of most birds better than I did. One 

 evening, as I was .returning from a chicken shoot, old Punch 

 was standing up in the buggy with his nose pointing to the 

 windward, sniffing the breeze. As we turned the corner of 

 a stubble field, he looked up at me and whined. Hitching the 

 horse, I dropped in a couple of shells and followed him along 

 the edge of the field. Soon his pace slackened ; then, creeping 

 along slowly a few steps, he stiffened out into a beautiful 

 point. As I came up he moved up again. This was repeated 

 several times, when a wild old cock flushed twenty-five rods 

 ahead and sailed off over the cornfield, cackling defiance at 

 us. A week later I was walking across the same field when 

 Punch came to a point near the same place. I stepped up 

 behind him and he moved forward a few steps, then, glancing 

 back at me, he started off to the right, making a detour, and 

 struck the edge of the field 100 rods above us. He then began 

 working slowly back toward me. About fifty yards from 

 where he first struck the scent he came to a dead stand ; with 

 a loud roar the wary old cock flushed in front of him and 

 circled for the cornfield. I covered him, and just as he topped 

 the corn the gun cracked and he dropped in the edge of the 



field. 



Another evening, when out after ducks, we were crossing 

 a stubble field. The ground was spongy and little pools of 

 water stood in all the low places. As we turned the corner 

 of a cornfield I noticed a flock of mallards drop down in the 

 stubble. Getting in line with a row of shocks, I motioned 



[60] 



