FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 187 
goose. Of course a wild goose at home would have seen 
through this stratagem at three miles off, almost before 
it was conceived — any one who has had dealings with 
them will bear me out in this ; but the Falkland Islands 
geese are — geese ! 
The doctor followed the path as we advised with a 
jaunty, careless step, looking in front with a smile that 
was pensive and childlike, then suddenly wheeled to the 
left, brought the gun to the present, and advanced rapidly 
with long strides and flying coat-tails. 
The goose looked round, but showed no fear ; it was 
beguiled, no doubt, by the doctor's scientific get-up of 
satchel and hammer and vasculum. Nearer and nearer 
the doctor approached, the strides growing longer and 
faster. At thirty yards the goose looked round and saw 
the two black muzzles of the twelve bore and the doctor's 
eye gleaming above them, and there was something about 
the expression it did not like, so it began to put one 
yellow leg before the other, walking away in the manner 
peculiar to geese, looking behind it at the same time to 
see our friend. Then it stumbled and picked itself up 
and our doctor gained some yards. The British flag was 
now fluttering directly above the goose, and to this 
emblem of freedom the goose raised a pathetic eye, and 
as it did so the doctor pressed the trigger — both triggers, 
rather — and there was a fearful explosion ! 
... A cloud of feathers floated in the smoke-laden air, 
and the goose lay a soft white heap on the grass. 
I never shall forget the expression of boyish happiness 
on B.'s face as he came up smiling with what remained of 
