The morning call., 1893-02-12

lana brought f0Tth only the harvest OF
another dozen of ducks. 1t was disappoinr-
ing but not discouraging. Another half day
was spent in tue land among the sloughs
and reeds and submerged lands of the San
Joaquin River, then break was made for
salt water.
well go back to Alameda. if we can't
do better than this" said the captain, land
shoot off the marshes and fats of Bay farm
Island"
But Wen keep lookout for ducks on
the way back" suggested Gorham. And
Dec sa I'VE will" and so said they all.
Back to Pliers Slough. out into Old River,
into he main strt am OF the San joaquin
near It's mouth. and thence into NJ onteZuma
Creek. past Antioch and the cattle ranches
sailed the Bonita. And all the while from
the asthead sharp lockout was kept Tor
inland ponds and ducks in the air
Two short stops were made EN- route. but
the luck was ever worse. Late In the after
noon OF the third day Montezuma Creek
had been traversed till near its junction
with the Sacramento River.
Here there were blue hills in the back
ground, occasional patches of trees and
plenty OF scrub brush covering a land that
was only partly submerged, with grain
heids In the distance, and only narrow
margin OF tnles walling in the levees.
:. NOW the ducks grew plentiful Though
the rain had ceased. they flew over the
ponds In countless hundreds. And the
geese, great gray geese, nicknamed honk-
ers.. and flying noisily in single file. how
cred about over the ponds as though invit-
ing shot from the hunter.
II you want duck-hunting go to Monte
yuma Creek. Had the Bonita sailed there
first. instead of wasting the best part of
three days among the sioughs aud tules,
you could not have seen her decks for
feathers on the return trip.
No time was lost in getting down to work
on the new hunting ground. and not till
darkness made ii useless TO keep up the
pop. pop, pop, did these hungry nimrOfs
return to the sloOp. There was general
ratification meeting held on board that even
ING, and everybody agreed that you must
flnd your duck-huntlng ground near the
gralnhelds, where the ducks go regularly 70
feed.
Everybody was hunting the next morning
before breakfast, and nearly two dozen
canvasbacks and mallards were brought
back by 8 o'clock After breakfast the
skipper himself took hand at the gun. He
owned to being a poor-enOugh hunter, but
he looked with longing eyes on the honkers
as thev flew over his head, and his palate
had even grown thirsty tor The juice of
mallard. And he got both before the sun
went down that night, though before he
dropped his goose he had more than one
humorous experience.
His first one was with a f ock Of about
dozen geese that settled down for a paddle
in pond about 800 yards distant from
where Skipper Andersen was lying In am
bush behind the wildrose bushes. A sim
iler covering Of brush separated the pond
from the main field.
Now. il man had the patience to crawl
over there on his hands and knees" said
the skipper" what splendid shot he would
have. He could not help killing two or
three of them with his double-B shot"
lie reflected full minute, then be con-
plUdR0 that ha was tha man tad with th a
amount of patience. SO he set out crawling
and crawling and crawling, over tie Wild
rose thOrns, through the hard headed young
tules. over the soft, wet earth, even across
little ponds foot or more In depth. Now,
Skipper Anderson Is no longer a young
man, aud il was almost pathetic to see him
crawling over that rough. wet. thOrny
ground, bare headed and holding his gun
aloft ont of the water.
But in his haste he missed his bearings
and reached the hedge. behind which were
the geese fully 200 yards 10 the west of
where they had settled down. Everybody
could see that he was crawling in the wrong
direction. but no one dared call out q warn
ing for fear of disturbing the honkers. 1t
was a striving and trying and an ending
in nothing.
When the skipper reached the hedge the
geese rose and flew away. his double-B shot
rafting on their wings harmiessiy, so great
was the distance between them and the
Viking hunter. Skipper Andersen will never
forget that lost opportunity. 1t troubled
him all the rest of the voyage. 1t caused
sore spot that the acquisition. later on, of
couple of fine honkers and fat mallard
only assuaged. but did not heal.
Three important events transpired during
the successful shooting in MonteZuma Greek
and the most memorable of them all was
this long, diseouraglng crawl Of Skipper
Andersen.
And the next thing never 10 be forgotten
was the expression of mingled disgust, re-
grei, surprise, sadness and the host OF other
emotions that were depicted on the vsage
of Gorham when he pulled the trigger on a
flock OF mallards within fifty feet, and the
gun hung fire. 1t was .he first shot of the
morning. and he had forgot 10 load his gun
the night before. You may forget ii, but
Gorham never will. nor will those who saw
that look.
And the third Of these things is the fact
that the captains S15 gun did more damage
to the ducks Of Montezuma than did any OF
the more costly fowlng-peces.
And there are three morals to these three
things. The first is that persistence alone
cannot win. The second is that ducks
won't wait till you load the gun. The third
ia that the cost of the tool does not govern
the excellence OF the JOB.