44 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



surface of the lagoon, and it was therefore impossible to 

 propel the heavy, clumsy craft a greater distance than the 

 length of a stroke. After much hard paddling we arrived 

 at the head of the further lagoon. By this time I was 

 simply bathed in perspiration, and moreover I had omitted 

 to take a greatcoat with me ; and, it being the cool 

 season and decidedly chilly, I was somewhat afraid of 

 contracting ague or at least a severe cold. 



B now showed me my " bhnd," put out the decoys 



by wading to within about twenty yards of the shore, and, 

 telling me to " kill time " until the first of the dawn, he 

 moved off to his own " blind," and I lay down on the floor 

 of the boat and endeavoured to snatch a little sleep. 



Chilly though it was, I must have slept for some 

 hours, for the first grey streaks of morning were beginning 

 to brighten the eastern skyline when, stiff as the proverbial 

 poker, I awoke with a start from the bottom of the dug- 

 out. Peering through the uncertain Hght, I noticed 

 something moving in and out among my decoys, and, 

 slipping a couple of No. 3 shot cartridges in the chambers 

 of my i2-bore, I fired; and the "something" turned 

 paddles up. To my disgust it was only an old grey coot. 



Next, a couple of pink-bill teal came straight for my 

 " blind." I managed to stop one of the little duck, 

 and how it happened that I did not kill both has to this 

 day remained a mystery to me, for they were flying almost 

 wing to wing. 



No sooner had the report of my first barrel rang out 

 than fowl seemed to rise from every part of the lagoon ; 

 comparatively few, however, came within shot of my 

 " blind," and at the end of the first half-hour of the flight 

 I had only scored four mallard, two pochards, and a teal 



