An Autumn Outing in Nebraska. 



he had a sportsman's grit and our hunter's sympathy was 

 awakened. Upon inquiry we learned that Jim had an extra 

 coat under his seat that he kept for just such emergencies. The 

 drive across the prairies between great fields of corn and grain 

 and comfortable farm-houses was worth the expense of the 

 whole trip. 



Arriving at the lagoon about 9 o'clock, we tossed out the 

 sack of decoys near the south pass, then drove to the north 

 end, where there were some haystacks. After unhitching the 

 horses and turning them to the wagon feedbox, we all turned 

 to Jim for directions. He said two should go up to the pass 

 on the north arm, put out half of the decoys and shoot there; 

 two should take the rest of the decoys and go to the west 

 side ; the other two, who had hip boots, could wade through 

 the lagoon and jump ducks. Davis and Jim went to the lower 

 pass, Billy and the writer were in for the wading. The two 

 that started north had not got two rods from the wagon before 

 "scape !" went a jacksnipe ; bang went Charlie's Parker and, 

 at the crack, Mr. Longbill dropped. As soon as the boys got 

 fixed in their stands and we began shooting, the ducks began 

 moving, and Billy and the writer kept them on the move for an 

 hour or two, when we thought things were getting too hot and 

 moved to a more congenial climate. 



By this time the snipes began to drop in, and we turned 

 our attention to them until about 1 o'clock, when we all struck 

 out for the wagon for lunch. We were all on hand but Billy 

 K . While discussing his whereabouts we heard the re- 

 port of his pumpgun away over on the east side. Poor Billy ! 

 He had miscalculated the size of the lagoon and had about 

 three miles yet to walk before he could satisfy the cravings of 

 the inner man. He put in an appearance about 2 o'clock, tired, 

 muddy and hungry, but did full justice to both the solids and 

 liquids. 



After an hour's chat and smoke we struck out again. Jim 

 went back to his old duck stand ; the rest of us went after 

 snipes. The afternoon was warm and pleasant ; almost too 



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