A VOYAGE IN THE DARK 



will presently come to desolate these 

 marshes. Very different from his up- 

 rising was that of a pair of wood ducks, 

 revealing their unsuspected presence 

 with startling suddenness, as they sprang 

 from water to air with a splash and 

 whistle of rapid wings and their squeak- 

 ing alarm cry, and then flew swiftly 

 away, the sibilant wing-beats pulsing out 

 in the distance. These, too, I wished 

 might safely run the gauntlet of all the 

 guns that will be arrayed against them 

 when the summer truce is broken. If 

 I had not been mustered out, or if my 

 boy were mustered in, no doubt I should 

 feel differently toward the inhabitants 

 of these marshes. Compulsory absti- 

 nence makes one exceedingly virtuous, 

 and because I am virtuous there shall be 

 no cakes and ale for any one. 



The absence of the rail's cackle was 

 noticeable, a clamor that used to be 

 provoked at this season by every sud- 

 den noise. We never got sight of the 

 " ma'sh chickens " as they skulked 

 among the sedges ; and when the birds 

 were pressed to flight, rarely caught 

 more than a fleeting glimpse as they 



