204 FEATHERED GAME 
one, when he goes home the tried companion of 
a hundred pleasant shooting trips comes out 
from its dusty case, is tenderly balanced in his 
hands, thrown to his shoulder and aimed at an 
imaginary goose, then carefully inspected and 
thoroughly cleaned, though there is no need of 
it, and at last reluctantly put away again. Per- 
haps the poor fellow cannot break away from 
his toil, but he will think and plan for the fu- 
ture and in his dreams live over again his 
merry days by field and marsh or on blue wa- 
ters. Mayhap he hears the ripples chuckling 
under the bows of his float with a merry spring- 
time melody as he forces his small craft over the 
gentle swells in pursuit of some unsuspecting 
flock. Will he score one of them? Of course! 
For there are no ‘‘blank days”’ in the ‘‘happy 
hunting grounds’’ of our dreams, and so he is 
happier for the mere sight of that flying phalanx 
of ‘‘honkers,’’ and the memories which they re- 
eall of deeds performed at crack 0’ day with 
sculling oar and goose gun. 
Far away in the lagoons of the south the win- 
ter months have been spent, and now a few 
days, genial and bright with the promise of 
spring, have filled the old gander’s whole being 
