190 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



My fellow gun was still hard at it, and I saw him drop 

 duck after duck, and teal after teal, as only a good shot 

 knows how to drop them. Very few came my way, 

 however, and again I am bound to confess that the 

 number of empty cartridge-cases which lay strewn 

 round my stand greatly exceeded the number of slain. 

 At length the splashing sound made by the natives, as 

 they half-swam, half-waded through the breast-deep 

 water, reached our ears, and then small companies of 

 coots, and one or two hammer-kops, began to sneak out 

 of their last havens of refuge. On and on came the 

 dusky birds towards the hidden guns, now running over 

 a spit of greasy ooze, and now quietly paddling through 

 the many open channels in the carpet-like growth of 

 lilies and other water plants. With a mighty to-do, 

 up rise the whole company of between three and four 

 hundred coots, and the next moment they come sweep- 

 ing over my head. Pulling both barrels into the "brown," 

 or, rather, the black of them, four of their number fall 

 with resounding splashes almost at my feet, while an- 

 other, after carrying on for about 200 yards, pitches into 

 an antbear earth on the veldt, from which it is gathered 

 later. 



The slime-soiled, reeking Kaffirs next came into view, 

 and the last belt of reeds was beaten out ; but beyond a 

 small flock of sacred ibis which broke back over the heads 

 of the beaters, it held nothing, and the drive being now 

 over, the boys were set to work to gather the spoil. 

 Doubtless a good number of wounded birds escaped the 



