d, Tommy."

"You and me ain't goin' to be done by a big cock-sparrer sort o' thing,
is we? and he says we warn't, and we'll keep on earlier and earlier till
we do get him."

"Well, and what did you do?" asked Oliver, smiling.

"Goes in the middle o' the night, sir, to be sure, and there we was as
quiet as could be; but we didn't hear nothin' till just afore sunrise,
when there was a _cherk, cherk_, and a bit of flutterin' just as we was
makin' up our minds as he was too artful for us. Billy, he gives me a
nudge and shoves up the gun and takes aim."

"But you couldn't see the bird?" said Oliver.

"No, sir, not yet, but I wanted to be ready so as to get a shot at him
the moment he showed hissen, and then if I didn't recklect as I hadn't
loaded the gun arter giving it a good clean up yes'day, 'cause it were
getting rusty."

"That's so, and I did mine, too," said Wriggs.

"You might ha' knocked me down with a feather, sir," continued Smith.

"Nay, nay, speak the truth, Tommy," growled Wriggs, reprovingly. "No
feather as ever growed wouldn't knock you down."

"Will you be quiet, Billy Wriggs? Who's to tell the gentleman if you
keep a-sticking your marlin-spike in where it aren't wanted?"

"Come, come, I want to see my bird," cried Oliver, who was amused by the
sailor's long-winded narrative. "If it takes so much time to shoot one
bird, how long would it take to shoot a flock?"

"Ah! I dunno, sir," said Smith, solemnly.

"But you got this one?"

"Ay, sir, I did."

"We did, Tommy! speak the truth."

"Well, _we_ did, then. I shot him, sir, and Billy goes in among the
bushes and picked him up."

"Gettin' scratched awfully," growled Wriggs.

"Then you did shoot it," said Oliver, "without powder or shot?"

"Nay, sir, I lowered the gun down, shoved in a fresh cartridge, and
waited like a stone statty."

"Two stone stattys," said Wriggs, solemnly. "Speak the truth."

"Yes, sir, neither on us moved, and I don't think as we breathed for
ever so long, till it humbugged that there bird so as he couldn't stand
it no longer, and he bobs right up on to a high bough so as to peep over
and see whether we was there."

"And were you?"

"Yes, sir," said Smith, very solemnly, "we was, and he soon knowed it,
for bang says my gun, down he come. Billy, as I says afore, goes and
picks him up."

"Yes," said Oliver, laughing; "and after all that long rigmarole, I
suppose it is something I don't want. Now, then, d