the glorious afternoon
sunlight. Cloud after cloud of ducks rose as we neared the pond and circled
high above our heads, but now and then a straggling mallard or "pin tail"
would swing across the sky within range; as my gun roared out the birds
would whirl to the ground like feathered bombs or climb higher with
frightened quacks if the shot went wild. An hour before dark the brahminy
ducks began to come in. We could hear their melodious plaintive calls long
before we could see the birds, and we flattened ourselves out in the grass
and mud. Soon a thin, black line would streak the sky, and as they drew
nearer, Yvette would draw such seductive notes from a tiny horn of wood and
bone that the flock would swing and dive toward us in a rush of flashing
wings. When we could see the brown bodies right above our heads I would sit
up and bang away.

Now and then a big white goose would drop into the pond or an ibis flap
lazily overhead, seeming to realize that it had nothing to fear from the
prostrate bodies which spat fire at other birds. The stillness of the marsh
was absolute save for the voices of the water fowl mingled in the wild,
sweet clamor so dear to the heart of every sportsman. As the day began to
die, hung about with ducks and geese, we walked slowly back across the rice
fields, to the yellow fires before our tents. It was our last camp for the
year and, as if to bid us farewell as we journeyed toward the tropics, the
peaks of the great Snow Mountain far to the north, had draped themselves in
a gorgeous silver mantle and glistened against a sky of lavender and gold
like white cathedral spires.

On January 3, we camped early in the afternoon on a beautiful little plain
beside a spring overhung with giant trees at the head of Erh Hai, or Ta-li
Fu Lake, which is thirty miles long. The fields and marshes were alive with
ducks, geese, cranes, and lapwings, and we had a glorious day of sport over
decoys and on the water before we went on to Ta-li Fu.

Mr. Evans was about to leave for a long business trip to the south of the
province and we took possession of a pretty temple just within the north
gate of the city. Here we read a great accumulation of mail and learned
that a thousand pounds of supplies which we had ordered from Hongkong had
just arrived.

Through the good offices of Mr. Howard Page, manager of the Standard Oil
Company of Yuen-nan Fu, their passage through Tonking had been facilitated,
and he had dispatch