FOREST AND STREAM 
653 
"There they come!” breathed Daniel, sinking 
lower. “Down, now, down. Here they come. 
Wait till they come close before you shoot and 
then we will give it to them as one.” 
On came the little band; there were eight of 
them. As still as logs we lay there; not one 
quiver, for those eagle eyes scent trouble a 
full mile away. On and on they came, and then 
Daniel whispered, “mallards,” and we prepared. 
On and on, and like shadows they spun toward 
us. At Daniel’s now, we both lined up and the 
mingled charges shattered the stillness of the 
morning. 
One I dropped clean in mid-air, but one was 
crippled and it needed another charge to get 
him as he lay on the water. Daniel had his 
marked long ago, and with that long barrel of 
his worked destruction of the leading one of 
them, a beautiful mallard. 
We had hardly shaken the deafness out of 
our ears when Fred’s gun banged twice in al¬ 
most instantaneous succession, and we sank low 
again for others. Hardly had we lain there 
five minutes when Daniel’s eagle eye made out 
others coming. 
Five swung in, and Daniel, who can tell the 
various ducks at a mile nearly, breathed, “pin¬ 
tails,” and silent we lay. 
Whang! Bang! Bang! spoke our thunder, 
and the five fairly were lifted into the atmos¬ 
phere by the impetus of that volley of lead. 
Dodging a cloud of smoke, I saw only two of 
them speeding for safety and away out of the 
reach of Fred’s. I can imagine with what exas¬ 
peration Fred bit off another determined and 
meditative chunk of “Piper.” 
The light of the morning was now spread¬ 
ing its silent grandeur over the earth; the east 
wore a suffusion of red that spoke of the fine 
day arriving on fairy wings. While we now 
lay in the blind, scarcely stirring and patiently 
waiting, the eye of Daniel spied others coming. 
This line of black gradually grew in size and 
we found it to be a flock of some fifteen ducks 
speeding our way, alternately mingling and spread¬ 
ing and further on, re-forming. Not only was 
this the biggest bunch we had yet assailed, but 
they also flew in such a manner that the center 
of that formation practically covered our center. 
With beating heart I lay there, and barely 
breathed as they came on. The teal led that 
array. Then came several canvasbacks and 
trailers of more teal. 
Bang! 
And bang! and an added bang! went my 
double barrel as they curved in their flight like 
an eddy, and in utter confusion and startled 
cries fled for safety. It was a clean surprise. 
They were bunched and the howl of delight that 
sprang from Daniel’s lips told only too plainly 
that our success had been out of the ordinary; 
they had been low also. I scanned the back 
surroundings and saw only eight going their 
way toward freedom on lightning express wings. 
“Eight of them—eight of them,” uttered Dan¬ 
iel ; banging at a teal that had been wounded but 
which, in the cunning manner of its kind, when 
wounded, seek safety by sinking. “Eight of 
them, mind you.” And he pointed them out. 
I know now that a long barrelled full choke 
gun has qualities of excellence that cannot 
be doubted; but, then, I also remembered the 
horrible charges of powder that Daniel used, 
and the size of the shot. Then is it any wonder! 
With the light stealing over the world the 
ducks got upon wing everywhere; and several 
flocks that were far out of our reach; but as we 
lay there, suddenly and without warning two 
redheads flashed in, and were shot at by Dan¬ 
iel, but to his profound disgust without suc¬ 
cess. Followed three more redheads, while we 
could hear Fred’s gun splitting the morning air 
at the pass upon other flocks; I then also let 
my thoughts rest upon the shee shell he was us¬ 
ing; they were my reloaded brass shells, and 
Number 3 shot for filler. 
“Have you got our game , marked,” I asked 
Daniel, as we lay there waiting. “You promised 
not one duck would escape your eye. How 
about it?” 
“Got everyone,” responded Daniel, in utter 
confidence, his face splitting to a smile of enor¬ 
mous proportions. “Got them all listed, even 
down to one that was laying by the weeds over 
there, and but the tip of his head shows. We 
got fourteen now.” 
Hardly had he spoken than with a sweep of 
trained eye, he breathed out, “Get down,” and 
I saw a large bunch heading our way with a 
determination that left no doubt in our minds 
as to where they were bound for. With a 
trembling hand I fondled the triggers. Ah, the 
From That Blind We Saw Millions of Ducks. 
