Canvas -Back and Terrapin. 733 



lifted into the air. it ceased, and all was as silent as before. Not a 

 duck could be seen ; but my two friends had their guns cocked and 

 were apparently listening intently. In a minute I heard a curious, 

 whistling sound. It grew louder and seemed to approach, but I 

 could see nothing whatever. As I looked, both my companions 

 brought up their guns and fired both barrels almost simultaneously 

 overhead. 



Hush !" said B. "Listen carefully. Mark one! Mark two! 

 Mark three 



I heard the splashes, and as the birds, falling, broke the water, 

 it faintly caught up the moonlight, and we could see three ducks 

 struggling not one hundred yards off; at the same moment both 

 dogs, without an order from any one, disappeared overboard. 



•' How did you know where to fire?" I asked. 



" You are not used to it yet." replied B. "When you are, you'll 

 see ducks easily enough on the darkest night.*' 



The ducks, on rising, had wheeled around, making a semicircle 

 of half a mile, and, as my friends' experience led them to expect, had 

 come directly doWn the river. There were thousands of them in the 

 air, and the whistling sound was made by their wings. In the 

 meantime, both dogs came up to the side to be taken in. Each had 

 a red-head in his mouth ; the third bird having died, could not be 

 detected in the darkness, and was abandoned. 



A further pull of some ten minutes brought us to the blind* 



'<• of which we found Joe, the darkey who had put out the 

 decoys during the night. He was fast asleep in the straw, though 

 the thermometer was below freezing-point. He took our boat and 

 rowed it away out of sight around the nearest point, and then return- 

 lay down by the dogs and went to sleep again. We seated 

 ourselves to wait for day-break and ducks, and I endeavored to per- 

 suade myself that I was not cold. My companions spoke in hushed 

 ecstasy of the south-west wind that blew up the river as the moon 



\ down. It struck me as the coldest wind I had ever known, and 

 I drew my hands up my sleeves and made a manful effort to keep my 

 teeth from chattering. A gray light stole across the eastern sky, 

 and I began to see the canards riding at anchor in front of our blind. 

 I was undeniably cold, and it was all I could do to keep from confess- 

 ing to myself that I felt miserabl' ides, my companions had 



