rawled when
he did, watched to see what dry and rustling footing he avoided, every
sense alert to play accurately this unique game of "follow my leader."
He alone kept watch of the cover, the game, and the plan of attack. We
were like the tail of a snake, merely following where the head directed.
This was not because the Captain was so much more expert than ourselves,
but so as to concentrate the chances of remaining undiscovered. If each
of us had worked out his own stalk we should have multiplied the chances
of alarming the game; we should have created the necessity for signals;
and we should have had the greatest difficulty in synchronizing our
arrival at the shooting point. We moved a step at a time, feeling
circumspectly before resting our weight. At the last moment the Captain
motioned with his hand. Wriggling forward, we came into line. Then, very
cautiously, we crawled up the bank of the reservoir and peered over!
That was the supreme moment! The wildfowl might arise in countless
numbers; in which case we shot as carefully and as quickly as possible,
reloading and squatting motionless in the almost certain hope of a
long-range shot or so at a straggler as the main body swung back over
us. Or, again, our eager eyes were quite likely to rest upon nothing but
a family party of mud-hens gossiping sociably.

Just beyond the reservoir on the other side was an overflowed small
flat. It was simply hummocky solid ground with a little green grass and
some water. Behind the hummocks, even after a cannonade at the
reservoir, we were almost certain to jump two or three single spoonbills
or teal. Why they stayed there, I could not tell you; but stay they
did. We walked them up one at a time, as we would quail. The range was
long. Sometimes we got them; and sometimes we did not.

From the reservoir we drove out into the illimitable tules. The horses
went forward steadily, breasting the rustling growth. Behind them the
Invigorator rocked and swayed like a small boat in a tide rip. We stayed
in as best we could, our guns bristling up in all directions. The
Captain drove from a knowledge of his own. After some time, across the
yellow, waving expanse of the rushes, we made out a small dead willow
stub slanted rakishly. At sight of this we came to a halt. Just beyond
that stub lay a denser thicket of tules, and in the middle of them was
known to be a patch of open water about twenty feet across. There was
not much to it; but invar