54 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



oozy mud, and placed the decoys well within shot of the 

 " blind," he left me to seek a " lay-up " for himself, his 

 last words being, " Keep varm, mein friend, until I call 

 for you in ze morning, and may ze ducks fly you're vay 

 in t'ousands." 



" Auf Wiedersehen ! Gluch zu^^ was my answering 

 hail as Burg passed into the night. 



Were I to say that the next few hours proved en- 

 joyable to me in the somewhat Hmited accommodation 

 afforded by my tub, I should scarcely tell the truth. It 

 was long past midnight ere I took possession of my 

 temporary lodging amidst the reeds, the thermometer 

 registered several degrees of frost, my position was 

 decidedly cramped, and, worse than all, I had either lost 

 or left behind my flask of old rye whisky. True, I had 

 my pipe and a thundering big plug of negrohead in the 

 pocket of my shooting jacket, but when the thought of 

 taking a " whiff " passed through my brain, the German's 

 " Whatever else you may do, don't smoke or light a 

 match " rang clear as an electric bell in my tingling ears. 



Notwithstanding the cold and discomfort, however, I 

 must have dropped into a doze, for I remember perfectly 

 well to this day that in my dreams I was wandering in 

 a state of nature among the orange groves of Florida, 

 when the harsh call of an old coot awakened me to the 

 stern reality of my tub -bed. As stiff as an ancient 

 horse, I looked around my " blind " to discover that the 

 first grey signs of dawn were beginning to appear on the 

 eastern skyline, and that a number of dim forms were 



