A Sportsman at Large 253 



what my dead rations may have subsisted on during their 

 brief span of life on this beautiful but desperately cruel 

 sphere. Otherwise, what about ducks, pigs and such-like 

 gross feeders, whose succulent flavour is in inverse ratio to the 

 obscenity and repulsiveness of their sustenance ? 



John Gunn (sounds more like Notts than the Orkneys, 

 doesn't it ?) came to me one day to ask if I would like to visit 

 the caves on the coast, outside the bay, there to launch an 

 offensive against the Blue Rock pigeons which inhabit them 

 in considerable numbers. Knowing that these birds are able 

 to test the skill of the shooter to the utmost, I thought I 

 would like a try out. It was impossible to use the Valhalla 

 (as our half-decked sailing craft was called), by reason of the 

 dangerous, rock-bound coast, which would admit of approach 

 by an ordinary fishing boat only. 



Announcing my intention to the C.O., she expressed a wish 

 to accompany the expedition. I was rather surprised at this ; 

 for, although she was a pretty good sailor on a cross-channel 

 steamer or an ocean-going vessel, she had ever expressed an 

 opinion that a voyage in a small boat on the open sea would 

 find her prostrate with mal de mer. For that reason she had 

 never yet joined in our various fishing excursions. 



Choosing a likely day when the waters appeared calm 

 and pacific and the skies showed no signs of dirty weather 

 in the offing, she, I, Henry George, and the faithful John set 

 forth on this novel venture. All went well during the out- 

 going voyage. We rounded the point of the bay and coasted 

 along the shores of the open sea until the first of the pigeon- 

 caves was reached. It was a deep embrasure in the lofty cliffs 

 which towered over the waters. Here the water was crystal 

 clear. Gazing down into the depths, a perfect maritime 

 fairyland was revealed. Sea fauna, in the shape of massed 

 formations of many-coloured weeds, swayed in a gentle tide. 

 Here and there, patches of glittering sand were to be seen, 

 whilst, darting hither and thither, shoals of small fish of various 

 species worked their way in and out of the rocks and gently 

 waving weeds. 



All of a sudden, a sharp exclamation from the C.O. caused 

 me to raise my eyes from the contemplation of the decorative 



