AMONG THE WILD GEESE. 



201 



The object of the expedition being chiefly the Geese, which 

 would then be snugly roosting on the rolling waves a mile or 

 two outside the bar, nothing could be done that night or 

 until the tide commenced to flow about six in the morning. 

 At that hour the morning proved fine ; the moon, only a few 

 days past the full, shone brightly in the western heavens, and 

 by her light we could dimly discern the desolate features of 

 the broad estuary, extending far away inland, a dreary suc- 

 cession of dusky sand-banks and oozes, backed by the snowy 

 outline of distant hills. The tide being now low, we had to 



"THE LAST. RESOURCE." WINGED GOOSE TRYING TO HIDE ON THE 

 BARE SAND. 



launch the punt over some two hundred yards of sand and 

 shingle no easy matter with a craft some twenty- two feet 

 long and so heavy as to require the full strength of my 

 puntsman and myself to lift her on to the launching-carriage. 

 Moreover, the sand was soft, and the wheels sank in places 

 up to the axles, while ever and anon they ran against a half- 

 hidden boulder. However, the morning was intensely cold 

 snow lying a foot deep down to high-water mark so the hard 

 work was not unwelcome, for it set the blood tingling through 

 our veins. There is a certain strange weirdness about these 



