"I resolved upon making the experiment. The flock was in a position to
enable me to do so. They were to the leeward of a sedge of the
_vallisneria_. The wind would carry my skiff through this; and the
green bushes with which I intended to disguise it would not be
distinguished from the sedge, which was also green.

"The thing was feasible. I deemed it so. I set about cutting some
leafy branches that grew near, and trying them along the gunwales of my
little craft. In less than half an hour, I pushed her from the shore;
and no one at a distance would have taken her for aught else than a
floating raft of brushwood.

"I now pulled quietly out until I had got exactly to windward of the
ducks, at about half a mile's distance from the edge of the flock. I
then took in the paddles, and permitted the skiff to glide before the
wind. I took the precaution to place myself in such a manner that I was
completely hidden, while through the branches I commanded a view of the
surface on any side I might wish to look.

"The bushes acted as a sail, and I was soon drifted down among the
plants of the wild celery. I feared that this might stay my progress,
as the breeze was light, and might not carry me through. But the sward,
contrary to what is usual, was thin at the place where the skiff had
entered, and I felt, to my satisfaction, that I was moving, though
slowly, in the right direction.

"I remember that the heat annoyed me at the time. It was the month of
November; but it was that peculiar season known as `Indian summer', and
the heat was excessive--not under 90 degrees, I am certain. The
shrubbery that encircled me prevented a breath of air from reaching my
body; and the rays of the noonday sun fell almost vertically in that
southern latitude, scorching me as I lay along the bottom of the boat.
Under other circumstances, I should not have liked to undergo such a
roasting; but with the prospect of a splendid shot before me, I endured
it as best I could.

"The skiff was nearly an hour in pushing its way through the field of
_vallisneria_, and once or twice it remained for a considerable time
motionless. A stronger breeze, however, would spring up, and then the
sound of the reeds rubbing the sides of the boat would gratefully
admonish me that I was moving ahead.

"I saw, at length, to my great gratification, that I was approaching the
selvage of the sedge, and, moreover, that the flock itself was moving,
as it were,