AMONG THE WILD GEESE. 205 



oz. of B.B. is strewn with the spoils. Ten geese fall at 

 once on the mud, another, hard hit, slants obliquely down- 

 wards, while from their retreating host a pair more of 

 " droppers " turn over, and fall dead on the sea. Now 

 follows a lively quarter of an hour with the cripples, and 

 just as all are secured, down comes the snow again. Thick 

 and fast it falls in blinding sheets, blotting out the sight 

 of sea and sky, of geese and gunners. But the tide is now 

 over ; we have had enough ; so with a fresh breeze, and the 

 ebb in our favour, we set our sprit- sail and spin away 

 homewards. 



