. All day long the air had been full of their
cries, but it had grown quieter now, though occasionally they heard a
sharp cry of the leader of a flock, followed by a responsive note from
the birds following him. From time to time Godfrey could hear the
whirring sound of a multitude of wings as the flocks passed overhead.
These became louder as the time went on, and he knew that they were
flying lower. He had loaded his gun with heavy shot, and once or twice
was disposed to fire, but Luka each time stopped him. "They are much too
high yet. They will come close down presently." The stars were shining
brightly, and Godfrey could make out the outlines of the geese as they
passed overhead. Presently there was a sharp call a few hundred yards
higher up the bank.

"This lot are coming low," Luka whispered. "They are probably going to
settle to feed. Get ready now."

Godfrey lay with his gun pointed upwards; a minute later he heard the
rustling of wings, which rose to a sound like a mighty wind, and then
some forty yards overhead a dark cloud of birds swept along across the
sky. Godfrey fired one barrel, waited a moment and then fired again.
With a loud cry of surprise and alarm the flock divided in two, and
almost instantly there were several heavy thuds on the ground close by.

"Hurrah! we have got some of them," Godfrey said, and leaping up they
ran to collect the fallen birds. There were five of them. "That is
grand," he exclaimed in delight.

"Will you shoot some more?" Luka asked.

"No, we have as many as we can eat, Luka, for the next three days at
least. It would be a waste of powder and shot to kill more, and worse
still, it would be a waste of life. It is right to kill what we require
as food, but to my mind there is nothing more wicked than taking life
merely for amusement. I consider that we should well deserve any
misfortune that might happen to us if we were to kill any one of God's
creatures wantonly. One of our best poets has written:

"'He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.'

"It makes me furious sometimes, Luka, when I read books of what is
called sport, and find men boasting of killing numerous creatures merely
for the pleasure of killing them. I feel that nothing would give me
greater pleasure than to flog such brutes."

Luka did not much understand this outburst of indignation, but as usual
he