2 1 -t PAST AND PRESENT. 



a beautiful road which wound through it, suddenly 

 came upon a delightful cottage. Smooth grass sloped 

 from the broad verandah down to a lake fifty yards off. 

 This was covered with wild duck, and here we were 

 politely requested to amuse ourselves, but as for shoot- 

 ing the almost tame birds, I could not think of such a 

 thing. Discarding the cover, which was cut through in 

 many ways by canals and paths, and appeared alive with 

 bitterns and pigeons, I struck away into the rice-fields, 

 trusting to find geese and snipe. In a couple of hours 

 I returned with my two coolies laden with white- 

 fronted geese and other birds. A most enjoyable lunch 

 was ready. Over a pipe afterwards, my companion, 

 who had remained about the preserves in preference 

 to trying the open plains, confided to me that he felt 

 ashamed of himself. 



"Why?" I inquired. 



" The fact is," he said, " after you left, I watched the 

 duck on the lake for half an hour. I went down and 

 fed them with bread. They came up to my very 

 feet in hundreds. There were mallard, widgeon, teal, 

 shoveller, and others I don't know. The Japanese 

 attendant kept urging me to shoot, but I had not 

 the heart. However, at last I thought I would put 

 them up and then have a bang at them. I got my 



