166 BROADLAND SPORT 



roar of my host's 8-bore echoed and re-echoed over the 

 water. I heard the rush of another large mass of fowl rising, 

 and, peering over the screen, I noted with exultant joy that 

 they were heading straight for my hiding-place. 



How many, I asked myself, should I get with my first 

 two shots. I noticed a thick bunch of at least two hundred 

 duck and mallard. Surely it would not be less than five 

 with the right barrel and three with the left. 



Vain thought ! greedy shooter ! (I cannot designate 

 myself " sportsman " when I counted on this wholesale 

 browning.) Nearer they came, and still nearer. The big 

 bunch was lower than the others were. In my eagerness I 

 pushed the barrels of my gun over the top of the reed screen, 

 and the next moment I cursed my rashness. The fowl saw 

 the movement, slight as it was, and they shaled * upwards. 



So eager was I to make that family shot that I mis- 

 judged distance, and without aiming at any one of them 

 in particular I fired. 



Where was the rain of dead and dying ? 



What, not a feather ! 



Annoyed beyond measure, I fired again, with a like result. 



" Ten thousand devils tear me," I thought, what a begin- 

 ning, what absurd and juvenile eagerness, could I really have 

 been guilty of such 1 could I really have fired at that " wall 

 of ducks " without drawing a single feather ? I could hardly 

 believe it. 



But my senses were soon brought back to the reality of 

 the situation by seeing a beautiful right and left made by 

 my agricultural friend, whose stand was a little northward 

 to my own. It was a really pretty shot; it inspired me to 

 follow his example. I had not long to wait for an oppor- 

 tunity. A bunch of five teal whisked round a clump of 

 trees and rushed towards the surface of the water like 

 witches in a hurricane. Again I sent two barrels aimlessly 

 after them, and again I cursed my too eager disposition. 



* Patois, signifying a gliding movement, somewhat similar to the gyrating 

 course taken by a propelled piece of slate or flat stone. 



