OUR BUCKIXG-GROUXD. 
421 
on ()oanl for ii doublc-baiTellcd gun, before the rest of us 
had made up our minds that Ave Avould liunt at all. Ilis 
unexpected return, liowevei', with a brace of brilliantly- 
feathered. drakes, caused us to shoulder our foAvling- 
pieces, crowd some ham and bread into our pockets, 
and accompany him in his search for their scattered 
companions. Old bust-proof and his master Avere again 
“in clover.” 
We landed on a quiet beach of heaA’y shingle, climbed 
up it through the piles of driftAA’Ood, and from its summit 
looked over a A^ast marsh-like plain, spotted here and 
there Avith elevations and scattering lagoons, and cut up 
by a perfect netAVork of Avinding streams, AA’hich, spring- 
ing from the melting snoAvs of the back-mountains, 
Avorked their numerous paths toAA^ard the bay, joining 
each other in their progress until they finally got up 
quite a respectable river, that emptied its turbid volume 
through the rise of the beach into the clear Avaters of the 
calm and motionless bay. 
No sooner had avc reached our elevation of some thirty 
feet above the sea, than the doctor pointed out the direc- 
tion Avhich the ducks had taken, and each one started by 
a different path to hunt them up. The tide aa'RS ebbing 
at the time, and avc therefore penetrated the muddy ex- 
panse Avithout fear; moreovei*, many of the hillocks Averc 
high enough to afford a place of retreat should it return 
upon us unaAvarcs, and so avc AA’aded the various sti’oams 
and lagoons, as Ave left the beach behind us, without a 
thought. Hours Avere passed in this Avay Avithout my 
crossing the sign of a duck^ and I had returned to Avithin a 
few hundred yards of the Avooding-party, AA'hen, from the 
