198 RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



move^ but after a bit an old cock waggled his tail, 

 and cackled like a brent goose. Now was tbe time ; I 

 walked slowly on at right angles to the ditch_, letting 

 my horse feed for five minutes, and then went on a few 

 yards, till I was within twenty yards of the ditch and 

 sixty of the birds. At last I reached the ditch, and for 

 the first time ventured a peep ; and, sure enough, not 

 five, but full fifteen handiirrias were quietly feeding at 

 the bottom. My old nag behaved admirably, just crop- 

 ping the grass as unconcernedly as possible. Nearer 

 and nearer I got till all of a sudden there was a dead 

 silence ; I knew what that meant, and kept as still as a 

 mouse. I just peered through two hairs, I might say, 

 of the horse's mane, and saw the whole lot looking in 

 my direction like a lot of stuck pigs. It was just on 

 the cards that they would come up to see, as ducks do 

 when I have "toled^"' them in California; but a duck 

 is nothing bo a handurria in the way of cuteness, 

 so I slipped my barrels under my horse's neck, and, 

 aiming just over the head of the first one, pulled the 

 trigger. What a clatter they made ! As the survivors 

 flew away I brought down one with a broken leg, and 

 then proceeded to count the spoil: three birds dead, two 

 cripples hopping about over the jpotrey^o, and the one 

 with a broken leg, were the results of this shot. If I 

 had had two ounces of loose shot, I believe I should 

 have got ten at least. After a smart chase I captured 

 the stragglers, and, mounting my horse and lighting my 

 pipe, rode slowly back, picking up on my way the bag 

 of plover, very well contented with my day's work. 



I and Jose packed up our traps without waiting for the 

 doctor, who had gone almost to Jericho, and we went 

 back to the farm, where we found Juana concocting 



