s quick ear had detected a low-flying flock, and so,
before they were seen in the dim morning light, they were heard. On
they came, little dreaming of danger now that they were so far away from
civilisation, and so they flew not a hundred feet above this hidden
place of their enemies.

Bang! bang! went the two guns into their midst, and soon bang! bang!
went the other two barrels. With loud, discordant cries, those that
were uninjured veered off to right and left. Memotas then threw down
his empty gun and quickly seized his loaded one, but did not attempt to
fire it. Sam also quickly picked up his extra loaded one, and was about
to fire at the now rapidly retreating geese. Memotas, however, stopped
him, and showed him that his gun was pointed exactly in the direction in
which was the nest where Alec and Big Tom were stationed. Sam was
frightened at what might have been the consequences if he had fired, and
gratefully thanked Memotas for his caution. Memotas, who was busily
engaged in reloading the guns, only said:

"Soon daylight; then you will see better."

In the meantime the others had heard the firing and were on the alert,
and so when the divided flock turned to the right and left some of the
geese came close to the nest of Alec and Big Tom, and the rest were not
very far from that of Mr Ross and Kinesasis. There was firing from
both parties, but their success was not very much, as the darkness was
still too great, and the geese were not so close to them as they had
been to Sam's nest. Memotas went out and found a couple of geese which
he brought into the nest. He and Sam were quite proud of having killed
the first. In the meantime, with the increase of the wind there was an
increase in the number of the passing flocks. And now soon they began
to be distinctly visible, and the firing became quite frequent. Of
course, a good many shots were lost, as it is no easy matter to hit a
flying goose, large as it is. No experienced hunter thinks of firing
directly at a goose that is flying by him, or even overhead. He has to
calculate for at least a foot ahead for, say, each hundred feet the
goose is away from him, and it takes a quick eye and good judgment to
correctly estimate the distance. Sam said he liked best to fire at them
when there was a string of them in line. Then by blazing away at the
first he generally brought down the third or fourth.

It was now full daylight, and so it was necessary for