JONES’ RIDE. 
GEO. 
The one was Judge of the County Court, 
short, stout and awkward, an enthusiastic 
hunter. Not that he succeeded in securing 
many ducks, for he could seldom compute 
the speed of the birds and the velocity of 
his shot so accurately as to cause the shot 
and ducks to connect; but, if the flocks 
were large enough and the flight continu- 
ous, he could occasionally bag a number of 
redheads, or mallards. What he lacked in 
marksmanship he made up in enthusiasm. 
This extended to his clothing. He knew 
exactly the shade of dirty brownish grey 
which his cap and outer clothing should be 
to match the dead grass and rushes along 
the lake shore. You would not catch him on 
a hunting trip with a black hat, or even a 
dark colored necktie. He even regretted 
he was unable to buy long rubber boots of 
the proper color. 
The other man was stenographer of the 
District Court, whom we will call Jones. 
He was the opposite of the Judge, being 
tall, well formed and graceful, and gave 
special attention to his wardrobe, which 
was always of the cut to best display his 
figure. He disliked corduroys and rubber 
boots as a gun-shy dog hates the report of 
a No. to shotgun. 
The scene was at Fort Collins, in the 
Northern part of Colorado. On Friday 
night the District Court had adjourned 
until Monday morning. Jones sauntered 
into the County Court room and said: 
“Judge, I hear the red heads are com- 
ing into Timnath reservoir by the thou- 
sands. What do you say to going down 
there to-morrow?” 
“All right,” said the Judge, “I’ll be after 
you in the morning about 8 o’clock and 
~we will go down and make a day of it.” 
Accordingly the following morning the 
Judge donned his corduroys and hip boots. 
hitched his old sorrel mare to the cart and 
started for Jones. What was his horror 
when Jones came out to see him dressed 
in black, with a stiff black hat, black coat. 
black vest, black trousers, patent leather 
shoes and a white shirt. 
“Why what’s the matter with you, man? 
Go in the house and put on some old gray 
clothes. If you go to the lake with those 
things on not a duck will come within 400 
yards of us.” 
“Oh, yes they will. In Kansas we al- 
ways hunted with black clothes and always 
got game.” 
“Well, if you got game in Kansas 
W. 
21 
BAILEY. 
togged out as you are now, the Kansas 
ducks are fools, that is all I can say; and 
if you insist on wearing those clothes I’]l 
give you a pointer right now, you will not 
sit within 300 yards of where I am.” 
“Nobody wants to sit near you. I have 
always heard you claimed every duck that 
fell, whether you killed it or not, but we 
will sit so far apart you can’t claim the 
ducks I shoot.”’ 
“But how are you going to get near the 
lake with those patent leathers on? We 
want to go out to the island.” 
“IT can go around the shore where it is 
dry. I am not going to sneak along among 
the rushes. I read RECREATION, and am 
no game hog.” 
After considerable muttering and growl- 
ing they drove off. Timnath reservoir was 
7 or 8 miles distant. The morning was 
pleasant, the air balmy and the refresh-. 
ments provided by Jones were exhilarating, 
so that the annoyance of the Judge soon 
wore away. They trotted along through 
pleasant lanes, past the well-kept farms of 
prosperous farmers, gazing admiringly at 
the corrals filled with fattening lambs, 
which were soon to be hustled off to the 
Chicago market to afford dainty morsels 
for Eastern epicures, and to give abundant 
returns to their feeders, adding to the rep- 
utation of Larimer County as a food pro- 
ducing section. 
The men finally arrived at the lake, an 
artificial pond covering several hundred 
acres, which is filled with water during the 
fall, winter and early spring, and which is 
drawn off in summer to irrigate the farm 
lands lying below. 
A little to the North of the lake is an 
old cabin, and at the North end is an 
island, to reach which it is necessary to 
wade through 2 feet of mud and water. 
The island is directly in the line of the 
flight of ducks. 
The Judge suggested that Jones, inas- 
much as he had insisted on wearing his 
conventional blacks. should hide in the 
cabin while the Judge waded out to the 
island. When he shot at the ducks and 
frightened them up from the lake Jones 
could shoot from the cabin such as came 
within range. To this Jones replied that 
the Judge must think him a jibbering idiot 
to come away down there to be stored away 
in an old mud roofed cabin, while the 
Judge would be located right in the midst 
of the ducks. By way of replication the 

