236 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 
cluded to hire him as an assistant, and the sum of one 
dollar being offered for his services, he accepted it in the 
promptest manner. We then paddled up stream until 
we arrived in sight of the flocks of wild fowl which were 
riding the wavelets under the shelter of a huge crag, and 
chattering pleasantly to one another. Seeing that the 
chances of bagging them on the land were better than 
on the water, my companion decided to bear down on 
them from the leeward in a canoe, while the Indian and 
myself were to conceal ourselves in the bushes on shore, 
and shoot them as they flew past us to the windward. 
Being anxious to secure all the swans I could, I asked 
the Indian to load his musket heavily with buckshot, so 
as to be able to make long shots, and he promised to 
comply, if I would pay for the ammunition. I readily 
assented to this proposition. Having taken our position 
in a thicket close to the water, we were not there long 
before the swans were sprung, and as the wind was blow- 
ing heavily, they flew very low and partially sideways, 
and when they came within range of our guns, we blazed 
away at them. The red man was the first to open fire, 
but the thundering report of his gun had hardly startled 
the echoing hills before his scream accompanied it. On 
looking at the birds he shot at, I saw pieces of legs, 
feathers, and flesh flying about in the air. One glance 
at these proved to me that he had been extraordinarily 
liberal in the use of powder and shot, and had paid 
dearly for it. I forgot all about his condition for a mo- 
ment, as I was too much absorbed in my work to have 
much consideration for anybody or anything just then, 
and when the swans came within ten or fifteen yards of 
me, I banged away at their heads, and succeeded in kill- 
ing one, and wounding another so severely that it fell 
into the water, not forty feet from the shore. 
Being under the impression that it was only winged, 
and wishing to secure it alive, if possible, I made a rush 
