150 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



immediately turned paddles upward. Then, with a 

 great to-do, the remainder of the bunch rose from the 

 water, and, paying my attention to the mallard, which 

 happened to be nearest me, I fired into the " brown " of 

 them just as they rose from the water. A couple fell to 

 the contents of my first barrel, while a third, hard hit, 

 after carrying on a short distance over the lake, dropped 

 with a splash amongst a bed of water-plants. Mean- 

 while the farmer pumped out three more shots from his 

 repeater, bringing down another red-head and a leash of 

 green-winged teal. At the sound of the shooting, up 

 galloped " Zaza," and in a very short space of time she 

 retrieved the slain from the water, including the mallard, 

 which had dropped a good three hundred yards from the 

 shore. 



We were now pretty well laden with game and fowl, 

 and I think Mac would have preferred returning to his 

 work on the farm rather than " monkeying round " 

 with me. But I was out to make a mixed bag, and 

 did not intend throwing up the sponge without trying 

 for a ruffed grouse. 



Cramming the birds and hares into an antiquated and 

 capacious game-bag, Mac tied the same to the branch 

 of a spruce iir, well out of reach of marauding creatures 

 with a taste for game ; and then, without wasting time, 

 we skirted the shore of the lake and once more plunged 

 into the heart of gaily tinted woods. 



For perhaps an hour we walked in single file along a 

 narrow trail, which in years gone by had been beaten by 

 the moccasined feet of many an Indian brave, until a 

 more open part of the forest was reached. Here the 

 undercovert, to a great extent, consisted of blueberry 



