Volume XXI. 



RECREATION. 



NOVEMBER, 1904 

 G. 0. SHIELDS (COQUINA), Editor and Manager 



Number 5 



LIVING IT OVER. 



J. F. SALTZ. 



An old man sat in his room with 

 no other companion than Ben, his 

 setter, stretched at full length before 

 the fire. Presently, a twitching toe on 

 one of Ben's feet attracted the old 

 man's attention. This twitching was 

 followed by the working of the whole 

 foot, backward and forward, accom- 

 panied by a whine or yelp from the 

 fast moving jaws, which joined in the 

 general disturbance, for in a moment 

 every muscle, from nose to tail, was 

 working as if strained to its utmost. 



"Ben! Ben! What's the matter?" 

 The only answer was a whack, whack, 

 whack, of Ben's tail on the floor. 



"I know what you have been dream- 

 ing of, old fellow. That trip up to 

 Goose lake, that cold, stormy day. 

 Cold ; yes, but we don't mind that ! 

 These cold fresh air baths are what 

 have kept your old master strong and 

 healthy. 



"Do you remember how those big 

 mallards came sailing along? How 

 still we stood! We were in full view 

 of them. We watched every turn they 

 made ; and they finally settled down 

 into the lake. Then we started to 

 sneak up on them ! I can see you now 

 as you crawled along behind me, for 

 you always crawl when you see me 

 sneak. 



"We backed away from the first 

 place where we stopped, and went into 

 the rushes in order to get a better 

 chance at them. We were going to 

 murder the whole flock ! That was 

 before we had become educated by 

 reading Recreation, and we thought 

 the more we killed the more sport we 

 were having. Finally we stuck our 



heads up a little too far and they be- 

 gan to get out of range. It was not 

 your fault, old fellow ! 



"Accidentally we knocked one mal- 

 lard down, even at that distance. 

 You thought, and so did I, that you 

 were going to get him ; but he was not 

 hit hard enough. Too bad, Ben ! You 

 had that long swim in the cold water 

 for nothing. He got up and flew 

 when we were just going to bring 

 him into camp. It was not your fault, 

 it was mine ; but you did not tell me 

 I was 'no good' ; no, Ben, you are a 

 true sport ! You don't complain if 

 things don't go just right. We take 

 the bad luck with the good. It is all 

 sport now, since we have learned what 

 real sport is. 



"Do you remember how we started 

 for the other lake, along through the 

 snow ? We saw flocks of ducks in 

 every direction, and we could tell by 

 their peculiar flight that they were 

 looking for a place to alight. 



"When we got to Goose lake and 

 saw those ducks out by that rat house, 

 I told you if we could get out .there 

 without their seeing us we would 

 have another pot shot ; but you were 

 not looking for pot shots. You saw 

 those 4 mallards coming from the 

 other way. You knew that I had not 

 seen them and you wanted me to have 

 that chance. The 2 that went to the 

 South of us had the wind in their 

 favor, but the 2 that tried to go North 

 of us made a mistake. 



"Pretty high, did you say? Yes; 

 but those shells fit perfectly and no 

 duck can get away from me when I 

 have the present combination. Two 



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