UPLAND SHOOTING. 
187 
among them you fancy that you have seen an indistinct some¬ 
thing falling helplessly earthward—that you have heard the 
thud of his tumble on the moist ground. Nevertheless, anxious 
although you be, and doubtful of your own success, you stir 
not from the spot. At the report of the gun, your dog couch¬ 
ed instantly; you can scarcely see him, so closely has he charged 
among the water-grass, with his nose pressed into the very 
earth between his paws. 
You drop your butt upon the toe of your boot, if the ground 
be very wet, and begin to load, rapidly, yet coolly and delibe¬ 
rately. Yes! you have killed him ; you may see the feathers 
floating yonder, in the still murky air of the windless swamp. 
You half-cock your locks, and apply the caps ; and, expectant 
of the coming order, “ Don” lifts his nose wistfully. “ Hold up, 
seek dead !” and carefully, gingerly, as if he were treading up¬ 
on eggs, knowing as well as you do that the bird is dead, and 
knowing pretty well where he is, at a slow trot, moving his 
nose from this side to that, snuffing the tainted air, and whip¬ 
ping his flanks with his feathered stern, he draws onward at a 
slow trot. Now he has caught the scent, he straightens his 
neck, quickens his pace a little, decidedly and boldly, and 
stands firm. “Good dog: Fetch.” He stoops, picks up the 
dead bird, by the tip of the wing only, and brings him to you 
without ruffling a feather. How conscious, how happy, how 
perfectly aware that he has merited your approbation, that you 
have both played your parts handsomely, as he hands you the 
trophy. 
Let him snuffle at it, for a moment, if he likes it; he would 
not touch it with a tooth, for a dog kingdom ; but the scent is 
to him what the aroma of a glass of Lynch’s Chateau Margaux 
of ’25 is to you,—let him enjoy it, he shall not serve you the 
worse, for that he looks for his reward. 
Here, gentle reader, is what thou art expected to do on oc¬ 
casion. Do it thus, always, and thou art a good sportsman, 
and a crack shot, not a doubt of it. Do it thus, very often in 
one day, and thou art having a right good day’s sport of it; 
