130 Unexplored Spain 



concentrated caution — "Gagga, gagga, gagga, gagga" — sets pulses 

 and nerves on fuller stretch. This pack proves to he but an 

 advance-guard ; for this is one of those thrice-blessed mornings 

 for which we pray ! The geese come in thick and fast in successive 

 bands of six or eight to a score, and all beautifully timed, with 

 exactly the correct interval between. The fowler is a craftsman, 

 a master of his art, and, moreover, he is all alone. Hence he can 

 to-day await the psychological moment with patience and absolute 

 confidence. Rarely in such circumstances is trigger touched in 

 vain ; not seldom has tlie second gun been brought into action 

 with good, thrice with double effect. No simple achievement 

 is this, when fowl vanish swift and ghost-like into space ; for, 

 remember, guns must be exchanged with due deliberateness else 

 shiftinsf sand in an instant fills the breech and cloofs the actions. 

 Thrice has the double caramhola been brought off, and now comes 

 the prettiest shot of all — five geese swing past, head up for the 

 decoys, and pass full broadside at deadliest range ; they are barely 

 twenty yards away. In all but simultaneous pairs fall four of 

 their company on the sand — all four stone dead ; and but a single 

 survivor wings away to bear news of the catastrophe to his fellows 

 in the marisma ! 



It is 8 A.M., and the tin decoys are now entirely replaced 

 by geese of fiesh and feather, with the fatal result that each 

 successive pack now enters with fullest confidence, so that by 

 doubles and trebles the score mounts fast during the fleeting 

 minutes that yet remain. 



Before nine o'clock the flight has ceased. It only remains 

 to gather those birds which have fallen afar — and w^iich have 

 been marked by the keepers from their points of vantage — and to 

 follow by their spoor on the sand such winged geese as may have 

 departed on foot. Some of these w^ill be overtaken, those that 

 have concealed themselves in the nearest rush-beds ; but should 

 any have passed on and gained the stronghold of the marisma, 

 they are lost. 



Such is an ideal morning's work, one of those rare rewards 

 of patience and skill that occur from time to time. Far 

 diflerently may the event fall out. There are mornings when 

 scarce once will that w^eird forewarning note, " Gagga, gagga," 

 rejoice the expectant ear with harsh music, when no chain-like 

 skeins dot and serry the eastern skies, or ever a greylag appears 



