January, 1922 
23 
shots they must have killed an enormous 
bag of geese. Until darkness fell we sat 
and watched in wonder that marvelous 
picture of bird life, the like of which I 
shall never see again. 
DEFORE it grew dark we prepared our 
^ sleeping-quarters for the night. As 
I have said, the top had blown off the 
stack, and between this and the stack 
proper we made a cozy bunk, big enough 
for all of us and presently, each wrapped 
in a blanket, we crawled in our nest; first 
Mr. Scott, then the writer, and Andy 
and Uncle Billy in the order named. I 
have a horror of snakes, and as I settled 
myself in the hay I thought : “Suppose 
some old rattler is hibernating here and 
the warmth of our bodies wakes him up, 
what will happen?” The long ride fac- 
ing the wind had made me drowsy, and 
in spite of the thought of snakes I soon 
fell asleep and did not awake until Mr. 
Scott aroused me in the morning. We 
found our companions had left the “nest” 
before us, and as we crawled out a 
laughable sight awaited us. It was just 
at the break of day and in the dim light, 
there, beside the stack, sat Uncle Billy 
with hanging head and gun between his 
knees, sound asleep, and Andy lay 
wrapped in his blanket, also asleep, as 
close to the back of one of the sleeping 
horses as he dared to lie. 
With a hearty shout we woke them up 
and then they confessed that they had 
awakened in the night and got thinking 
about snakes until they could stay in the 
stack no longer and had crawled quietly 
out. Andy had then laid down by the 
horse for warmth while Uncle Billy had 
taken his gun and gone off over the mea- 
dow in the bright moonlight on a voyage 
of discovery. He said he had walked up 
to the junction of 
Cow Creek and the 
Arkansas River, 
about a mile away. 
As we bustled 
about preparing 
breakfast we could 
see and hear the 
geese leaving the 
river to feed on the 
corn and wheat 
fields, and when 
the sun arose it 
soon became evi- 
dent that our 
high hopes of the 
night before were 
doomed to disap- 
pointment. The 
high wind had 
changed to the 
north and the ma- 
jority of the geese 
either flew over 
the river or to the 
farther shore, while the few that came 
over us were too high for shooting. 
As the morning wore on, Mr. Scott 
hitched up his horses and drove to the 
nearest ranch to give them water, and I 
took a spade we had brought with us 
and slowly waded out through the shal- 
low yellow flood to one of the many 
FOREST AND STREAM 
islands in the river, about one hundred 
yards from the shore, carefully testing the 
bottom for quicksand with the spade as 
I did so. On reaching the island I dug 
a blind in the sand and presently Uncle 
Billy waded out to me. We were well 
hidden, but to no purpose, for only one 
lone goose came within shot, coming 
over us from behind and was out of 
range before we could shoot. 
From our island blind we looked north 
up the river and could plainly see the 
smoke from the city of Hutchinson, some 
ten miles away. About eleven o’clock 
Mr. Scott came rattling across the river 
bottom and, driving to the river bank, 
beckoned us to come to shore. When 
we did so he said it was steadily growing 
colder and would be a cold night, and 
advised our going home. He had brought 
some milk and eggs from the ranch and 
we hurriedly prepared dinner, then 
turned our backs on the Arkansas and 
drove away, a bitterly disappointed party. 
We had seen myriads of geese, but had 
not fired a single shot, and gloom envel- 
oped the wagon like a cloud. 
"^HE horses being headed for home, 
carried us onward at a brisk pace 
and soon we had passed through the 
Sand Hills and crossed the Little Arkan- 
sas River. On our way out we had 
passed a large wheat field near here, on 
which a large flock of geese were feed- 
ing. As we neared it we could see they 
were there again, a very large flock, 
probably fifteen hundred of them. Mr. 
Scott then said : “Boys, I have heard that 
you can drive to geese on the grain fields, 
if you handle it right; you fellows -have 
had hard luck and this may be your 
chance. Shall we try ’em?” Of course 
we said yes, so we turned into the field 
and drove towards the geese. “Now, 
boys,” said Mr. Scott, “I’ve never done 
this before, and I don’t want you fellers 
to be disappointed if I fail ; but I’ll do 
the best l ean.” 
As we drew near the geese they began 
to waddle off and Mr. Scott said; “Don’t 
look at ’em ; look straight ahead.” It 
was our plan to get to windward of 
them; this was our only hope of getting 
a shot, for if we did they would have to 
rise in the wind toward us. 
Slowly we drove along parallel with 
the flock at about two hundred and fifty 
yards’ distance. Mr. Scott used excellent 
judgment; the geese walked steadily 
away. If he edged in a little too close 
occasionally one would raise its wings 
in warning, and he would draw away 
again. As we neared the goal we all 
grew tense with excitement. We had 
made our guns ready before driving in 
the field and held them with a firm grip. 
As we drove past the geese we noticed 
the flock was shaped like a triangle with 
the point to windward. On this point 
were about a hundred very large geese, 
of a lighter color than the rest, and they 
did not seem so timid. 
At last we had reached the vantage 
point directly to windward. “Are you 
ready?” asked Mr. Scott. “All ready,” 
we replied. Swinging his horses quickly 
around, Mr. Scott brought his whip 
down across their backs and started them 
on a dead run towards the geese. They 
immediately began to take wing, but they 
had to rise to windward. Swiftly sped 
the horses and up rose the geese 'with a 
great roar of wings and clamor of 
alarmed honking. Oh, for a gain of a 
few more yards; but it was not to be. 
At just the exact moment, IMr. Scott 
swung his horses sharply around, and 
bracing his feet brought them to a stand- 
still just at that 
critical instant of 
time when the flock 
was at its nearest 
and about to swing 
in the wind. Drop- 
ping to the bottom 
of the wagon out 
of our a y he 
yelled “Shoot !” As 
we rose to our feet 
the great flock was 
about twenty feet 
in the air and about 
to turn as on a 
pivot, a veritable 
wall of heating 
wings, and wc 
rapidly emptied 
our guns, loaded 
with B. B. shot, 
into that living 
wall. Oh, for just 
a few more yards, 
and what a score 
we would have made; hut they were just 
a little too far away for deadly execu- 
tion and but three geese fell to the crack 
of the guns, one dead and two wing- 
broken. 
Then, as we watched the receding flock 
with wildly beating hearts, one of the 
{Confhutcd on page 42) 
A pair of Canada geese swimming 
