A MOENING ON THE MARSHES 333 



that would have tried the mettle of either harrier or grey- 

 hound. 



" There are precious few hares on the island, and 



those few I would leave for stock," were H 's last 



words to me. Mistress Lepus, therefore, went away un- 

 scathed, much to the disgust of the retriever, who looked 

 up at me with liquid and wonderfully human-like eyes, 

 as though to say, " Let another hare go like that and I'll 

 surely chase it." 



From time to time the report of my friend's gun 

 reached me. Not a feather did I move, however, until 

 quite two -thirds of the length of the dyke had been 

 worked out. Then, with a great to-do, seven wild duck 

 got up within a dozen yards of me. I was not prepared 

 for such a sudden spring of fowl, for, owing either to poor 

 scent or to some other unknown cause, old Grouse (as 

 true a dog as ever was whelped) had passed the growth 

 of sedges wherein the duck must have harboured, and 

 was working a good twenty yards higher up the dyke. 

 How I managed to make a clean miss with my first barrel 

 will ever remain a mystery to me, for that bunch of 

 mallard rose in a heap. But miss them clean I did, and 

 only succeeded in winging one with my second barrel, 

 which dropped on the saltings lying outside the sea-wall, 

 and led the dog a merry dance amongst the many guts 

 and runnels before it allowed itself to be captured. 

 The rest of the bunch, after circling round the marshes, 

 passed over the creek to the neighbouring island, while 

 I, thoroughly disgusted at the manner in which I was 



