196 



In Quest of 

 ^KteptonR 

 ^IfteMId 



white man and his devices. Then old and 

 young alike had little fear of man, — as 

 they have little now in their wild northern 

 home, — and met him with only the ordi- 

 nary wild creature's watchfulness; but in a 

 few seasons they learned better, and now the 

 chief concern of the old birds on the south- 

 ern migration is to keep the young well 

 away from things that are dangerous. For- 

 tunately for the young goose, his parents 

 always lead the flock of which he is a part; 

 and from them and from the old leaders, 

 trained in the school of long experience, he 

 speedily learns to shift for himself and to 

 make his own way in a world of wits. 



All these and many more things the boy 

 learned as he followed Waptonk with the 

 hunters ; but still his chief question remained 

 unanswered. From books and baymen alike, 

 from explorers and the shrewd old pot-hunter 

 of the Middleboro' ponds, he heard always 

 the same story: how the honking wedge 

 might be called down to decoys, and how 

 the wary birds might be tolled or trapped or 

 outwitted and killed; but what Waptonk 



