slaughter them. We had
sat a little while, and opened our wallet, when, what was our surprise
to see the birds swimming together, and landing in numbers below our
feet! Slowly some advanced, as if to reconnoitre us, and then others
came on, till some hundreds were within thirty yards of us, evidently
wondering what strange animals we could be. Then they began to talk to
each other in a most strange discordant cackle, their voices growing
louder and louder, as if they were disputing on the subject, and could
not settle it to their satisfaction. We lay back and watched them,
highly diverted. Nearer and nearer they approached, talking away
furiously all the time in tones of wonder and surprise, more than in
those of anger.

"I know what they are saying," whispered Jerry. "Well, these are two
strange beings! How could they have come here? They are not seals,
that's certain, for they have legs; but they don't look as if they could
swim with those long, thin projections instead of flappers; and
assuredly they can't fly, for they have no wings. How can they feed
themselves, for they have no bills? and see what great ugly round things
they've got for heads. Evidently they cannot dive or live under water.
They are not fish, then, nor birds; for if those are feathers growing on
their backs, they are very rugged and dirty. Well, we pity them; for
they are strange beasts, that's a fact." This quaint notion of Jerry's
tickled my fancy so much that I burst into a loud fit of laughter, which
somewhat startled our flock of visitors; while Jerry, sitting up, hove a
stick he had carried all day made fast to his side in among them. The
missile did not, however, make them turn tail; but, instead, they
clustered thickly round it, and, as if it had been some impertinent
intruder, began pecking at it furiously. As we could not carry the
birds away, with a praiseworthy self-denial we abstained from firing.
When, however, we jumped suddenly up and clapped our hands, away they
scuttled at a great rate, chattering and quacking louder than ever. We
hoped, however, to reward ourselves for our present self-denial, by
returning with all the party to have a shot at them in the evening.
After this we walked on for a mile, and had begun to wonder what had
become of our companions, and to be a little anxious at having missed
them, when we were startled at hearing a loud roar not three hundred
yards from us. It was very different from that