A TREACHEROUS EERRY. 



7i 



across to one of the mesquite hillocks 

 and for 2 hours had some excellent 

 shooting. As I was the only one in 

 the party who had rubber boots I had 

 a practical monopoly of the shooting. 

 The others had to content themselves 

 as best they could on the outer shores. 

 I bagged about 25 ducks and had the 

 pleasure of making some beautiful 

 shots, as well as the embarrassment 

 of having the boys see me make some 

 awful misses. When we returned 

 home that night, we had, all told, 

 about 50 ducks, and 15 quails which 

 we killed on the road back. We 

 stopped just out of town, under an 

 electric light, to divide our game, and 

 while counting it out 3 other parties 

 of hunters came by. They had not 

 killed anything and their remarks as 

 they stopped to size up our pile, 

 which looked wonderfully large, de- 

 lighted us. We cheerfully lied to 

 them as to where we had killed the 

 ducks, which we said was just where 

 they had been hunting. They thought 

 it strange they could not find any- 

 thing when it was evident that game 

 was so plentiful. We were extreme- 

 ly sympathetic with them and agreed 

 that it was strange indeed they had 

 been so unfortunate. Before sepa- 

 rating for home we each solemnly 

 pledged the others that we would not 

 give the snap away, but somehow the 

 secret got out and within the next 2 

 weeks half the shooters in town had 

 visited the scene of our success. 

 They returned practically empty 

 handed, however, as the ducks had 

 already gone South, we probably 

 having frightened away all we did 

 not kill. 



Ducks are not plentiful in this im- 

 mediate locality, though in September 

 and the early part of October we fre- 

 quently have fair shooting, provided 

 the fall rains put any water into the 

 lakes. A few days afterward 2 of us 

 attempted to make a sneak back to the 

 lake in question, so we could have a 

 good shoot all by ourselves, but we 

 failed to reach our destination. We 



decided to take a nearer route, which 

 compelled us to cross the river 3 times. 

 At the first ford we succeeded in 

 crossing, but not without wetting our 

 bed clothes, ammunition and grub. 

 We had a choice lot of sugar, coffee, 

 crackers, etc., after it had been ducked 

 in the chocolate-colored water of the 

 Rio Grande ; but we were still brave 

 and had visions of more ducks. Af- 

 ter a brief council of war we solemnly 

 resolved never to turn back. We 

 drove valiantly into the nextf ford, 

 perched on the back of the buggy seat 

 and swearing we were going to stay 

 with it. When the water struck the 

 buggy seat again and everything de- 

 pended on the steady stride of the old 

 mare, she balked, and in answer to the 

 whip she kicked the singletree in 2 

 and snapped some of the harness. 

 There we were, perched like 2 mon- 

 keys on the back of the buggy seat, 

 the current carrying the buggy down 

 stream and threatening to turn us 

 over, and the old mare cutting up all 

 kinds of antics. I hastily climbed out 

 of the buggy and into the water, not 

 taking time to don my bathing-suit. 

 The water was swift, deep and chilly, 

 but it made no difference, as the situ- 

 ation imperatively called for prompt 

 and effective action. I cut some of 

 the harness, and the mare, thus re- 

 leased, forded the river like a veteran, 

 leaving us and the buggy in the mid- 

 dle of the river, with a horse on the 

 opposite side. Turning the buggy 

 with the current, we soon had it out 

 on the bank, after which I swam the 

 river and returned with the horse. 

 During this performance we played to 

 a delighted audience of Mexicans who 

 lined the river bank, shouted all man- 

 ner of gratuitous pleasantries to us, 

 and were as entertaining as possible, 

 having fallen in with the spirit of the 

 free exhibition we were giving. 



While we were engaged in patching 

 the harness and buggy, one of the na- 

 tives shouted across to us that the riv- 

 er was rising, and thus cheered our 

 dampened spirits, although just before 



