CHAP. XIx.] FOX AND WILD GEESE. 155 
feed on a small field of newly sown peas. Simon was delighted, 
and promised me a good shot in the morning, if I left him at 
the nearest farm-house to take his own steps towards ensuring 
me the chance. 
Accordingly the next morning, at daylight, I went with him 
to the spot: the geese were still resting on the sands, not having 
yet made their morning meal. In the very centre of the pea- 
field Simon had constructed what he called an “ ambush ;” this 
was a kind of hut, or rather hole in the ground, just large enough 
to contain one person, whose chin would be on a level with the 
field. The ground was rather rough, and he had so disposed the 
clods of earth that I was quite invisible till the geese came within 
a yard or two of me. Into this hole he made me worm myself, 
while he went to a hedge at some distance, for the chance of the 
birds coming over his head after I had fired. ‘The sun was not 
yet up when I heard the cackle of the geese, and soon afterwards 
the whole flock came soaring over my head; round and round 
they flew, getting lower every circle. I could several times 
have fired at single birds as they flew close by me, and so well 
concealed was I with clods of earth, dried grass, &c., that they 
never suspected my presence in the midst of their breakfast-table. 
Presently they all alighted at the farthest end of the field from me, 
and commenced shovelling up the peas in the most wholesale 
manner. Though the field was small, they managed to feed from 
one end to the other without coming within sixty yards of me; 
having got to the end of the field, they turned round, and this 
time I saw that they would pass within shot. Suddenly they all 
halted, and I saw that something had alarmed them; I looked 
cautiously out, and saw, in the direction in which their heads 
were turned, a large fox sitting upright and looking wistfully at 
the geese, but seeming quite aware that he had no chance of 
getting at them. The morning sun, however, which was just 
rising, and which, shining on his coat, made it appear perfectly 
red, warned him that it was time to be off to the woods, and he 
trotted quietly away, passing my ambuscade within forty yards, 
but always keeping his head turned towards the geese, as if 
unwilling to give up all hope of getting one of them. The 
distant bark of a dog, however, again warned him, and he 
quickened his pace and was snon out of sight. The geese seemed 
