A TALE OF A MIXED BAG 121 



search of from a small gut running parallel with the sea- 

 wall, and so hidden amidst saltwort that it had escaped 

 my notice. The shovellers rose well within shot of me, 

 and although I missed clean with my first barrel, I 

 managed to drop the drake with my second. The female, 

 as though loth to leave her consort, wheeled twice over 

 the spot where he lay " paddles " upward, passing within 

 easy range of me. Any chance I might have had of 

 killing her was spoiled through the bulging of an empty 

 cartridge-case, and my gun being a non-ejector, the duck 

 had disappeared from my sight for ever ere I succeeded — 

 by the aid of a button-hook — in extracting the faulty 

 case. 



Gathering the dead bird from the slimy little pan of 

 water into which it had fallen, I returned to the fleet, to 

 find the vicar taking his rod to pieces. 



" Sufi&cient for the day," quoth the reverend angler, 

 as he pointed to a long row of the ugliest and most 

 hungry-looking pike it had ever been my sorrow to look 

 upon. 



