SHOOTING WILD-GEESE 183 



in inquiring rage, demands in dumb show, " ^Vho did it ? " 

 The look is endeavoured to be conveyed from one to the other, 

 for had any noise been made by the next man to his lordship, 

 he would have been sure to have looked it on to his neighbour, 

 rather than have braved the consequence himself; but in the 

 instance I am speaking of each man looks behind him, and the 

 last man collecting the looks of all bestows it on the ox in the 

 concentrated state of a sportsman's lozenge, and the line pro- 

 ceeds again. " Hush ! no noise,"" being still the order, and the 

 mud beneath the bank of the river having been attained, serving- 

 men and guests creep on ; their leader halts suddenly to listen 

 to the geese, and, as in a string of carriages in London, when 

 coachmen have not their horses in hand, and poles and panels 

 become acquainted, butt goes the nearest man's head against 

 him, which he of course hits at. Dumb show of objurgation 

 having been continued by the leader for a few moments, during 

 which he strikes at imaginary heads in the air, the line proceeds 

 again, when very likely the tenacious mud sucks a hold of some 

 follower's boot, said boot extricating itself with a loud pop like 

 a ginger-beer bottle. The leader halts once more, and in dumb 

 show now signs to the assembly at large that " if that occurs 

 again he'll go home : " at the same time he adch-esses a look 

 of furious inquiry to the man next him, who, as usual, answers 

 the silent appeal by a glance of suspicion on his next neigh- 

 bour, who carries on the question to the neighbour behind 

 him, and so on till it gets to the last man, who, being the 

 last living thing in sight, replies by a look of indignant as 

 well as injured innocence, and finally the line proceeds to a 

 termination. The leader then points with a finger to the mud, 

 and a man drops into it, and so on till all are placed and he has 

 assumed his station : by this time the goose-driver has circum- 

 vented the flocks, and a beautiful shot or two come over the 

 keepers' as well as the guests' heads, but they all refrain from 

 shooting lest they should miss, and be deemed to have made a 

 noise for nothing, and have frightened the geese, or spoilt their 

 leader's sport : the geese then perhaps come over the leader. 



