THE STANCHION-GUN IN SPAIN. 397 



he would then take the opportunity of inspectmg our 

 impounded gunboat at Seville. 



The measurements of this " British Armada " were : 

 length over all, 22 feet, breadth of beam, 3 feet 6 inches, 

 by 9 inches depth of hold ; her armanent a gun of eighty 

 pounds weight, throwing sixteen ounces of shot. Not a 

 very formidable vessel, yet a hostile fleet off Malaga 

 would hardly have aroused more official fuss. 



Six or seven months elapsed before these difficulties 

 were smoothed away, as difficulties in Spain, or elsewhere, 

 do dissolve when prudently and properly treated ; but the 

 wildfowling season was over, the ducks had disappeared, 

 ere the " Boadicea " was released from official durance 

 and allowed to proceed to the scene of action. 



The first obstacle was now surmounted, but a second, 

 and more insuperable difficulty arose, one which forms 

 the real " pith " of the present chapter. From the first 

 our local wildfowlers reported badly of the new craft ; 

 her trial cruises were not satisfactory, for, while the pateros 

 experienced no difficulty in approaching the less wary 

 birds, such as flamingoes, herons, and the like, yet ducks 

 of no sort could be outmanceuvred ; at any rate not on the 

 open waters. On the return of the ducks in autumn follow- 

 ing, the fowlers still reported that the}' found the large 

 packs wholly inaccessible, nor could they secure more than 

 a paltry half-dozen or so at a shot. 



These reports, however, did not disturb us greatly ; we 

 attributed the failure of the imteros to lack of experience 

 and technical knowledge in handling the " Boadicea " ; 

 for, despite their skill in fowling, the art of working a big 

 gun afloat was one of which they could know nothing. It 

 was, therefore, with unabated confidence that the writer 

 embarked on board the trim, light craft, and shoved off 

 on his first Spanish punt-gunning campaign. 



An exhilarating j^rospect lay before us ; nowhere in 

 British seas could such aggregations of wildfowl be seen, 

 nor so favourable a spot be found : there was no tide or 

 current to fight against, no deeps where one loses bottom, 

 no hidden shoals nor shifting sand-banks to bar one's 



