306 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 
what caused it, we were surprised to find ourselves almost 
in the midst of a huge bed of ducks, which must have 
numbered several thousand. This unexpected meeting 
stupefied us for a moment or two, as we did not antici- 
pate such good fortune, but even if we had known the 
ducks were there I doubt if we could have seen them, as 
the moon had sunk behind the forest, so that the stream, 
which was as tranquil as a mill-pond, gave back none of 
its reflections. 
On recovering our wits we seized our guns and fired 
four barrels into the mass of feathers that whirled above 
us in the air, and a moment later we could hear the 
splashes of several ducks as they struck the water, and 
the frightened squawks of the crippled as they fluttered 
helplessly down the river. We set about picking up our 
birds at once, and in this we were aided considerably by 
one of the retrievers that had remained in the boat, seem- 
ingly asleep, and which went to work without even being 
asked todo so. Through his exertions and our own, we 
managed to secure seven dead ducks and two cripples, but 
these, evidently, were not all we had brouglit down, judg- 
ing by the splashes in the river, and the opportunity we 
had for making a large bag. Having concealed the boat, 
we returned to the blind with our trophies, and received 
the congratulation of our friends for bringing them such 
early indications of good luck; The guide said he ‘‘ reck- 
ned” we should have ‘piles of shootin’,” and he also 
‘*reckned”’ the wind would freshen about sunrise, and 
that the ducks would come booming towards us; but he 
wasn’t ‘“‘sartain sure” of the wind, as ‘‘it mought, and 
then it moughtn’t freshen afore noon, or maybe evenin’.” 
His prophesying wassoon cut short bya large dark cloud, 
from which emanated a loud whistling sound, that passed 
overhead at a high altitude, but when it cleared the blind 
it sunk rapidly downward until it struck the water, not 
three hundred yards from our position. 
