308 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



and logs and floating debris, and quickly strands on 

 some submerged tree, whose roots cling to the fast- 

 washing bank. The boat swerves one way, then an- 

 other, finally the water surges against its sides, then 

 rushes beneath it, only to appear again on the opposite 

 side, while hundreds of whirling eddies spin in the 

 caldron of foam. In the spring overflows this is no 

 exaggerated simile, but may be expected any time. 

 Your boat should be one, then, that when you get in 

 such places, no shadow of fear should pass over your 

 face, no palpitation of the heart be experienced, no 

 anxiety for family, no thought of unpaid and possibly 

 expired life insurance policies. On the contrary, you 

 should feel free to sit still and enjoy the scene, with 

 perfect confidence in the safety of your boat, feeling 

 that it cannot upset, and that the boiling eddies around 

 you are powerless to engulf it ; that in your boat noth- 

 ing less than a maelstrom could bring disaster. 



Then again, your boat will oftentimes be your com- 

 panion. Mine has carried me through marshes in Illi- 

 nois, rivers in Iowa, lakes in Dakota ; indeed, I never 

 think of going off on a duck hunt, when large bodies 

 of water are to be hunted in, unless my boat goes with 

 me. To have a boat that is easy to handle is an abso- 

 lute necessity, for the boat must go by express, or as 

 freight, or hauled on wagons and handled by men not 

 noted for carefulness. This being the case, it should 

 be short of length ; to afford stability, it should be broad 

 of beam ; not to be conspicuous, it should sit low on the 

 water ; to afford a blind, it should be decked over at 

 bow and sides, the combing of the cock-pit extending 

 about four inches above the decking. When loaded 

 and trimmed as a blind her guards should extend only 



