BY THE LIGHT 0' THE MOON 97 



almost read a newspaper by the light of the moon, and 

 the slight fall of snow that carpeted the frozen marshes 

 deadened the footfalls of his companion and himself as 

 they walked towards a long, narrow fleet of fresh water 

 which lay glinting under the moonbeams. 



Very soon the gunners met with a wide, sedge-fringed 

 dyke that led to the fleet, and the doctor taking one side 

 of the same, and Jack the other, they started forward, 

 keeping the moon directly between themselves and the 

 fleet. Suddenly the " scape, scape," of a snipe put 

 Tankerton on the qui vive, and the next moment the 

 long-bill went screwing up the moonlit dyke as though 

 the devil were behind it. Jack was in the act of pulling 

 when the report of the Irishman's gun rang out, awaken- 

 ing the dead silence that reigned over the marshes, and, 

 greatly to the surprise of the former, the *' long-bill " 

 dropped like a limp rag on to a patch of cat-ice bordering 

 the side of the dyke. Highly delighted at the success of 

 his shot, the doctor pulled up his thigh boots and waded 

 in to retrieve the bird. 



An old bald coot next blundered out of the sedgy 

 drain, and away over the marsh he sped like a bird of 

 ill -omen. 



" Why didn't ye shoot that ould divil ? " asked the 

 doctor disgustedly, as the coot sailed safely out of sight 

 and gunshot. " His breast would eat better than any 

 mallard's." 



During a somewhat lengthy acquaintance. Jack had 

 learned that the good surgeon was not over-particular 



G 



