60 ARDENMOHR. 



u A good idea ; and better have a change of 

 stockings, as we get into the boat : when one con- 

 tinues walking, wet doesn't matter. I am not effemi- 

 nate, but I funk sitting long when wet since that 

 bronchitis in Ireland. You remember, when care- 

 lessness in changing lost me a week's cock-shooting, 

 don't you, Abbott ? " 



" I think I should : your temper was dreadful." 



Everything being now in order, we set off across 

 the moors ; and a pretty strong party, viz., we four, 

 besides Archie and his boy, and Dick with the pony. 



On coming near the loch we took round the east 

 corner to reach the marshes, Dick and the boy going 

 down to the boathouse to have the tackle put in order. 



The place for the wild fowl is a long narrow bay, 

 fringed densely with reeds. The flat moor around is 

 interspersed with bogs, water-plants, and peat-holes, 

 and the whole about as pretty a find for wild fowl as 

 could be desired. 



When we came to the duck-grounds, Ward and 

 Fred went quietly ahead with Archie and the dog. 



Grace, the retriever, is in her way a curiosity, being 

 a cross between a Newfoundland and a Eussian setter, 

 and far from a beauty, having a shaggy coat of dirty 

 brown, short legs, blunt head, and a sidelong evil 



