132 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



Up goes the ancient fowling-piece, but an ominous 

 " click," followed by a loud and very weighty adjective, 

 speaks only too eloquently of a missfire. The Doctor's 

 gun snaps out twice in quick succession, and a heavy 

 splash in a shallow pan of water left by the receding tide 

 tells of a tragedy in the feathered ranks. 



A perfect fusillade now ensues among the gunners 

 lined up under the sea-wall, for the geese, flying in their 

 wedge-shaped " skeins" cover a considerable width of 

 space. But the flight of the big grey fowl is very quickly 

 over. The little surgeon carries his first wild goose home 

 in triumph, and then sets out on a mission of mercy to 

 his fisher folk patients. 



