All our wild birds were if anything too tame,
although not _shockingly_ so as Alexander Selkirk found them on his
island - the poet's, not the real Selkirk.
The birds being so
scattered, all he could do was to lie flat down and fire with the
barrel of his fowling-piece level with the flock, and the result was
that the shot cut through the loose flock to a distance of thirty or
forty yards, dropping thirty-nine birds, which we put into the sack,
and remounting our pony set off home at a fast gallop. We were riding
barebacked, and as our pony's back had a forward slope we slipped
further and further forward until we were almost on his neck, and I,
sitting behind my brother, shouted for him to stop. But he had his gun
in one hand and the sack in the other, and had lost the reins; the
pony, however, appeared to have understood, as he came to a dead stop
of his own accord on the edge of a rain-pool, into which we were
pitched headlong. When I raised my head I saw the bag of birds at my
side, and the gun lying under water at a little distance; about three
yards further on my brother was just sitting up, with the water
streaming from his long hair, and a look of astonishment on his face.
But the pool was quite clean, with the soft grass for bottom, and we
were not hurt.
However, we did sometimes get into serious trouble. On one occasion he
persuaded me and the little brother to accompany him on a secret
shooting expedition he had planned. We were to start on horseback
before daybreak, ride to one of the marshes about two miles from home,
shoot a lot of duck, and get back about breakfast-time. The main thing
was to keep the plan secret, then it would be all right, since the
sight of the number of wild duck we should have to show on our return
would cause our escapade to be overlooked.
In the evening, instead of liberating our ponies as usual, we took and
tethered them in the plantation, and next morning about three o'clock
we crept cautiously out of the house and set off on our adventure. It
was a winter morning, misty and cold when the light came, and the
birds were excessively wild at that hour. In vain we followed the
flocks, my brother stalking them through the sedges, above his knees
in the water; not a bird could he get, and at last we were obliged to
go back empty-handed to face the music. At half-past ten we rode to
the door, wet and hungry and miserable, to find the whole house in a
state of commotion at our disappearance. When we were first missed in
the morning, one of the workmen reported that he had seen us taking
our horses to conceal them in the plantation at a little after dark,
and it was assumed that we had run away - that we had gone south where
the country was more thinly settled and wild animals more abundant, in
quest of new and more stirring adventures. They were greatly relieved
to see us back, but as we had no ducks to placate them we could not be
forgiven, and as a punishment we had to go breakfastless that day, and
our leader was in addition sternly lectured and forbidden to use a gun
for the future.
We thought this a very hard thing, and for the following days were
inclined to look at life as a rather tame, insipid business; but soon,
to our joy, the ban was removed. In forbidding us the use of the guns
my father had punished himself as well as us, since he never
thoroughly enjoyed a meal - breakfast, dinner, or supper - unless he had
a bird on the table, wild duck, plover, or snipe. A cold roast duck
was his favourite breakfast dish, and he was never quite happy when he
didn't get it.
Still, I was not happy, and could not be so long as I was not allowed
to shoot. It was a privilege to be allowed to attend, but it seemed to
me that at the age of ten I was quite old enough to have a gun. I had
been a rider on horseback since the age of six, and in some exercises
I was not much behind my brother, although when we practised with the
foils or with the gloves he punished me in rather a barbarous manner.
He was my guide and philosopher, and had also been a better friend
ever since our fight with knives and the cowbird episode; nevertheless
he still managed to dissemble his love, and when I revolted against
his tyranny I generally got well punished for it.
About that time an old friend of the family, who took an interest in
me and wished to do something to encourage me in my natural history
tastes, made me a present of a set of pen-and-ink drawings. There was,
however, nothing in these pictures to help me in the line I had taken:
they were mostly architectural drawings made by himself of buildings -
houses, churches, castles, and so on, but my brother fell in love with
them and began to try to get them from me. He could not rest without
them, and was continually offering me something of his own in exchange
for them; but though I soon grew tired of looking at them I refused to
part with them, either because his anxiety to have them gave them a
fictitious value in my sight, or because it was pleasing to be able to
inflict a little pain on him in return for the many smarts I had
suffered at his hands. At length one day, finding me still unmoved, he
all at once offered to teach me to shoot and to allow me the use of
one of the guns in exchange for the pictures.
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