MUD - WADING. 
45 
half-submerged, tangled mass of decayed and 
growing vegetation. At every step, she sank, 
with a shiver, sometimes- a few inches, sometimes 
to her waist in the cold water. She was soon 
compelled to make a disorderly retreat. 
The boots were at the bottom of it ! They 
tangled themselves in the rushes. They filled 
with water. They seemed determined to remain 
fixtures in the mud ! It was only by an exertion 
that greatly endangered her equilibrium that 
they could be drawn up for the steps necessary 
to reach the shore. Once there, they were left in 
disgrace, while she returned in her stocking-feet. 
This made the experiment a matter of far more 
ease, and secured her the tantalizing success of 
seeing numbers of the birds start up before her 
only to dodge into the covert in another place ! 
For nearly two hours she waded about among 
the slimy vegetation, curbing her fancy when it 
'pictured snakes and leeches about her limbs, 
resolutely beating about to drive some fowl within 
range of her husband’s gun, which he, in the skiff 
upon the lake, held ready to discharge. 
Then darkness interfered, and compelled her 
to go into camp with nothing but her “ clinging 
drapery ” and benumbed limbs to reward her for 
her exertion ! 
The next day, approaching another pond, she 
met with better success. 
