184 The Grouse Family 



color. The colonel solemnly winked a wicked 

 eye, but made no comment, so we marched toward 

 the pointer, the team walking close behind. 



M carried his gun over his shoulder with 



the guard upward, his hand clenched on the grip. 

 It was a big ten-gauge, and by the finish of it an 

 expensive arm, and by a famous American firm. 

 To be candid, the combination looked decidedly 

 formidable. The method of carrying, while a 

 common one among chicken shooters, was to me 

 a novelty, and I wondered what sort of a wrist 

 the man had who would whirl such a gun to the 

 firing position. Subsequent experience proved the 

 trick to be very easy, but it has the decidedly bad 

 tendency to make a man undershoot a swiftly 

 rising bird. 



Somewhat to my surprise, M stopped when 



within a couple of yards of the dog, and set him- 

 self as a man will when at score. Glancing ahead, 

 I saw a small upright object which looked exactly 

 like a striped gopher erect upon his haunches. 

 Presently another and another defined themselves 

 among the grass, and I realized that a number 

 of chickens were squatting within a zone of about 

 twenty yards. 



" Burr-urr ! " up went a thing as big as a hen, 

 but it sped away at a very fair rate. Instantly 

 M 's gun was levelled, but instead of the ex- 

 pected prompt report, he held on and on, till it 



