YULETIDE ON A 15-TONNER 167 



" A mixed lot they be, I doubt," said the old 

 fowler, as he pointed his antiquated telescope in the 

 direction of the company of wildfowl which lay about a 

 mile and a half away on the starboard bow. 



I went down to the cabin to fetch a pair of lOx 

 Prisms glasses, and then, in spite of the heavy pitching 

 of the yawl, I discovered the company to consist of at 

 least a thousand head of different kinds of duck, in- 

 cluding mallard, widgeon, pintail, pochard, and scaup ; 

 but, alas ! I also discovered a dark dot drifting slowly 

 up towards the vast assemblage of wildfowl. That 

 dark spot was a single-handed gunning-punt, and, 

 assisted by the powerful prisms, I very soon reahsed that 

 the man who navigated her was well versed in the delicate 

 art of setting to fowl. Lying prone on the floor of his 

 low grey craft, and with less than the crown of his head 

 showing above the fore-coaming, the distant punt-gunner 

 crept nearer and nearer to the apparently sleeping fowl 

 noiselessly, with never a splash, and, indeed, scarcely 

 a ripple, ever keeping the muzzle of the stanchion gun 

 pointing towards the thickest part of the pack. 



" Yonder 's Bill Cotgrove, and he be a-setting to the 

 fowl wholly bootiful, and right dead up wind, too ; but 

 do 'ee get the guns on deck, gen'lemen,for Hke as not some 

 will pass within shot of the yacht when he rises 'em," 

 said old Gilson, as he watched the manoeuvres of his 

 brother professional with unalloyed admiration. Gilson's 

 advice was good, and dropping into the cabin, I handed 

 up M 's double-8 and my own 12-bore, returning on 



