742 



Canvas -Back and Terrapin. 



A TOLL OF DUCKS COMING IN. 



still the dog played, and played, and gamboled in graceful fashion 

 after Joe's chips. By this time the ducks were not over two hun- 

 dred yards away, and, taking heart of their numbers, were approach- 

 ing rapidly, showing in all their actions the liveliest curiosity. It 

 was an astonishing and most interesting spectacle to see them mar- 

 shaling about, to see long lines stand up out of the water, to note 

 their fatuous excitement, and the fidelity with which the dog kept to 

 his deceitful antics, never breaking the spell by a fatal bark or a dis- 

 turbing movement. The more wildly he played, the more erratic 

 grew the actions of the ducks. They deployed from right to left, 

 retreated and advanced, whirled in companies, and crossed and re- 

 crossed one another. Stragglers hurried up from the rear, and 

 bunches from the main bed came fluttering and pushing through to 

 the front to see what it was all about. By this time the nearest 

 skirmishers were not a hundred yards off, and as Joe threw the 

 chips to right or left and the dog wheeled after them, so would the 

 ducks immediately wheel from side to side. On they came until 



