LAST DAY OF DANGER 231 



dental morsel of food. The friendly association of the 

 gulls is quite irregular, and even a flock of many 

 score move along in seeming confusion, some high 

 in the air, others close to the water, and the leaders 

 and stragglers frequently changing positions. The 

 Ducks seem to have a serious purpose in life, and they 

 follow their straight courses in geometrical lines and 

 with regularity of movement. 



The last day of the year is the last serious menace 

 of the human enemy, and although the legal truce 

 will be broken many times, open aggression will be 

 at an end. Among the ridges in the ice barriers on 

 the shore a few figures in white are struggling with 

 the problem of keeping warm and keeping still. A 

 bunch of floating decoys are gradually accumulating 

 rings of adhering ice that lessen their deceptive 

 resemblance to a feeding flock. In the restless water 

 the intense cold gradually enlarges these deforming 

 loads, still the wooden forms nodding on the waves 

 are sufficiently deceptive to bring an occasional flock 

 away from their usual course over the open gap. The 

 Ducks have abundant warning in the badly-concealed 

 boat, the ice on the decoys, and the waiting enemies 

 who must move to keep from freezing. But the eager 

 quest for food makes every prospect attractive. 

 Whenever a hungry flock curves within the uncertain 

 range every barrel is discharged. The flashes and 

 sharp detonations of the smokeless powder warn 



