SUSPENSE. 67 



they again plunged to the bottom. The swans 

 were also feeding, but in a different manner: 

 with their long necks they explored the surface 

 of the mud beneath, where, to judge from their 

 perseverance and the number of tails that ap- 

 peared at the same moment directed upwards, 

 they must have discovered something well suited 

 to their palates. I could also distinguish some 

 of the less common species of anatidce, among 

 which the males of the smew and the golden-eye 

 were conspicuous in their pied plumage. The 

 sooty scoter too was there, but foraging by him- 

 self apart from the main body. All this time 

 their concealed enemy was gradually lessening 

 the distance between them and himself. Slowly 

 and stealthily did he advance, nearer and nearer, 

 until at last I expected every instant to hear the 

 roar of the stanchion -gun, and fancied that he 

 must be excessively dilatory or over-cautious, as 

 minute after minute elapsed without the report 

 reaching my ears. At last a bird rose from the 

 crowd and flew directly towards me. I saw that 

 it would pass tolerably near, and when in a few 

 seconds afterwards I perceived that it was a male 

 golden-eye within thirty yards of me, I almost 

 forgot the important though as yet passive 

 part I was enacting in the scene, and as I in- 

 stinctively grasped my double-gun and raised the 



