128 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING 



Don't wait for me, but when you catch a glimpse of 

 any, shoot quick ; there is more luck than skill in this 

 dim light. After you have shot, never mind the result, 

 Don will watch for that ; for you cannot see whether 

 or not you have hit. If you are successful you can 

 hear them, splendid ! You did that nicely. You got 

 two down, I heard them strike the water. I was just 

 going to shoot, but you were too quick for me. No, 

 no. Don ! lie down. You can't go this time. We 

 will not have you go now, and then return clambering 

 into the boat, splashing mud all over us. Never fear, 

 we will get them later. They fell in the grass, and if 

 crippled will lie low, while if dead, we will find them, 

 or rather Don will. We have a long day before us, and 

 don't want the hay wet on the start. Look off to the 

 east. See ! day is breaking, and the flight will soon 

 begin. Mark ! right before you. You take the head one 

 and I will take the other. Well! well! That was 

 simply slaughter ; too easy, wasn't it ? They never 

 knew what struck them. A pair of pin-tails. How do 

 I know so in the twilight ? Now that's a nice question 

 to ask an experienced duck-hunter. Why, my dear 

 friend, I know a duck by its flight, its shape, its speed, 

 its circling, its pitching, know them at a distance, the 

 same as you know a man a great way off by some 

 peculiarity in his gait. See ! The sun is rising ! Very 

 soon his round, red face will stare in wonderment at 

 us. Hear the wind, how gently it sighs through the 

 rice stalks. And there, ahead of us, see on the water 

 the reflection from the sky. Isn't it beautiful ! The 

 water resting so placidly while the deep red, the orange, 

 the greenish tinge, as it joins the pale j^ellow, gives to 

 the water a marbleized appearance, polished to the high- 



