10 EAMBLES AFTER SPOET. 



SO that you can fire clean aliead without stopping above 

 a second to look about you, he^s up to his work. I have 

 been with men who bring you up anyhow — or rather 

 nohow; birds on the lee, on the weather, ahead and 

 abeam ; and when you are looking about you the birds have 

 some twenty yards start, besides putting you in a flurry. 

 Catch Ted doing any such " botching '^ as that ! I used 

 to know merely by the way he handled the helm almost 

 the exact spot where the birds were, and could have 

 jumped up and fired almost blindfold. 



We cruised about a bit longer, and got another crack 

 at a knob of redheads, out of which we bagged four 

 and a golden-eye. (I may here mention that among the 

 Poole gunners a large number of duck is called a " band " 

 or " company,^^ a smaller number a " bunch," and five 

 or six or so a ^^knob.") The sea getting rather too 

 rough both for firing straight and the comfort of my 

 stomach, we put back to harbour ; and, after some little 

 manoeuvriiDg, Ted brought me up to a solitary brace of 

 teal, just at the entrance of a small "latch" or creek. 

 They got up at about thirty yards, and I dropped 

 the pair of them right and left, much to the delight of 

 Bill, who put me down there and then as being " con- 

 siderably on the shoot." 



"Well, now, Tm thinking we had better anchor off 

 that mudbank, and see what that locker contains ; after- 

 wards we can go for the evening ^ flight,^ and try and 

 pick up a coot or two on our way." 



Messrs. Bill and Ted were by no means backward in 

 investigating the arcana of the said locker, and in about 

 one half-hour the ham was reduced to nothing much else 

 than knuckle and bone — mostly bone. What an appetite 

 a fellow gets down there ! Why, I declare, it's worth 



