LAST DAY OF DANGER 
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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 
