228 EAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



couldD^t help wondering what Dan of Poole Harbour 

 fame would have said had he seen his old pupil shooting 

 ducks with a poodle ? 



" Hold hard a bit," said Francois, '' don^t move, let^s 

 see where that lot is going ; down they go, boys, in that 

 inlet ; we^ll tole those chaps again presently." 



The big, curly black dog now commenced retrieving 

 the dead and wounded, and as the day was not cold and 

 the bottom beautiful soft sand, I off trousers and waded 

 in and helped him. We gathered altogether about 

 twelve ducks, nearly all redheads; more than half a 

 dozen winged and wounded floated out to sea. 



We returned to the waggon, and had a breakfast of 

 broiled quail, toast, and canned salmon ; washed the 

 whole down with a bottle of Sauterne, and for an hour 

 or so smoked genuine Havanas. On the whole, perhaps 

 this is about as comfortable as slapjacks and cut 

 Cavendish. 



About three hours afterwards we toled the very same 

 band again in a little bayou, and got ten more duck, and 

 if we had had time we might have toled them again I 

 have no doubt. The birds seemed attracted by some 

 irresistible desire to examine the strange object on the 

 beach, and of course suffered for their curiosity. Some 

 of these toler dogs are of a reddish colour, not very 

 unlike a fox. Redheads tole most easily of any duck, 

 and the canvas-backs with some difficulty. So intent 

 are the ducks sometimes on the antics of the toler, that a 

 person may pass between the battery and the shore, and 

 yet they will not take flight. A parallel to this fascina- 

 tion may be found in the Western States, where it is a 

 common trick for a hunter to hang up a cloth or hand- 

 kerchief on a stick in an open plain, and then stalk the 



