324 UPLAND SHOOTIXG. 



animation and buoyancy of spirits, and a peculiar sense 

 of enjoyment, found in but few places. 



To th.e east, two miles away, White Lake lay in the 

 gently sloping valley, shining like a massive sheet of 

 silver. As we busily unloaded our trappings, guns, shell- 

 boxes, etc., the sharp eyes of my companion, ever 

 on the alert with true hunter's instinct, espied a low 

 black line — once seen, never afterward mistaken — rise 

 slowly over the lake. With a warning exclamation, he 

 grabbed gun and shell-box, and started on a dead run for 

 the field, leaving me to secure the horse, and come on after 

 as best I could. As he passed the straw-pile, he hurriedly 

 gathered up an armful of straw, and then made another 

 start for the center of the stubble as fast as his legs could 

 carry him, looking back over his shoulder every rod or 

 two to see how near the geese were, for they were coming 

 directly toward the field. Meanwhile, I was not asleep, 

 but before I could get ready to leave the buggy in fight- 

 ing order, the geese had gotten so near that I saw it was 

 useless to attempt to get into the stubble in advance of 

 them; but I managed, by a brisk ran, to reach the straw- 

 stack, in hopes that they would swing over that and give 

 me a shot^ in. which I was not disappointed. On they 

 came, about fifty of them — Hutchins geese — flying nearly 

 abreast, and not over forty feet from the ground, and 

 although they must have caught sight of us when we ran 

 for the field, seemingly unconscious of any danger. 

 They swung directly over the stack, and without taking 

 any particular aim — little excited, you know — I let two 

 loads into them, and do^vn tumbled one, ^vith a thump on 

 the ground that, as it came to my ears, produced a sensa- 

 tion as delightful as ever experienced in the field. I had 

 killed my first Dakota goose. As the big fellows passed 

 out over Tom, they met a still warmer reception, and two 

 of their number feU to his cooler aim. Before we had 



