SPORT IN THI] COAST EANGE MOUNTAINS. 261 



small assortment of scalping knives and tomahawks^ I fell 

 into the sleep of the careless. I was awoke next morning 

 by the cold nose of the dog pressed against my cheek as 

 he snuggled his head under my blanket^ and remember- 

 ing the ducks^ I unrolled myself in a moment. I found 

 Eyles up already^ with the coffee simmering on the 

 embers and a rasher of bacon frizzling away in- an 

 agreeable manner. " Just summut to put in our 

 stomachs afore we go after them ducks/'' quoth Ryles. 

 I seemed to think somehow that our bottle of waters had 

 sunk an inch in the night, like a thermometer. I didn't 

 think it worth while to mention it to my companion^ but 

 to make sure he hadn't " the dead wood " on me, I 

 took another inch myself. After a slight meal we 

 walked briskly forward through the chill morning air, 

 it being yet so dark that we could scarcely see 

 our way through the wood. A slight mist was rising, 

 or rather, I should say, fading away, which made our 

 " surprise party '' all the more sure. We had only my 

 double gun, which I carried, as I was au fait at this 

 sport. We had to make a detour to get to leeward of 

 the fowl, and forced our way through about fifty yards of 

 reeds and Californian mud, till we came almost to 

 the edge of the mere. A lot of them got up all 

 round us, but it was still so misty that the great 

 body of them couldn't see us, and I suppose 

 they had never been shot at before. I made a 

 sort of rest for my gun as silently as T could, and 

 knocked down the reeds in front of the muzzle, and 

 waited, covered with slime and water, for half an hour 

 or more. At last, oh welcome sight ! a faint ray of light 

 comes struggling through the trees and mist and strikes 

 the western sky. Slowly, like a huge white pall, the 



