The sun., 1903-01-18


How to Bripg Them Down-ILkins
OF Mallards for Cornneids-The Proper
/. Blind-shooting Gray Squirrels In the
south--lnail Hunting with Beaters.
The Farmer was to give them that day
Q demonstration OF the truth that just as
you can not hustle the East, or live in
Mexico and keep away from the siesta
habit. 80 you cannot theorize on jacksnipe
and make n good bag.
That bird OF the North refuses gaily to
Be tleorizsd about, II sets at nought e'try
theor sm of balistics, plays smash wan
trajec, Ory, laughs at the mathematical
scientht who says that the shortest DIS
tance bt tween two points is a straight uI.e.
and has fun with its opponents generally
The En-, yineer had read books about Jack.
nipe and Was fond of quoting from them.
A., had rea. that the snipe likes to lie hidden
HE a quail and to get up from under the
feet oi the hunter. startling him with its
hoarse sscar u! 'scape!' He had read that
ita erracth fi, .ht steadies when thirty yards
h.~ been ira y,ersed and then becomes
snnooth, straigla and even
He hnd read th at the time to pull the trig
the hooks had Ia ID him that the snipe would
be then lit ie mo rc than trap-distance away
and an eas,v ma rk The books told him,
too. that the best weapon to use is a short
run of cylinde.~ bore and that the best size
OF shot Is No. g.
Now. the Farl uer had a gun whose bar
rels seemed to b,S as long as fishing pole
and he used No. 10 shot unchied, con-
tending that the Snchilled shot is heavier
and carries more v,ily and has greater
canacity to give s! tock. He did not ex-
press il in that way. What he said was:
sThe los will knock em down IL they're
hit. and II YOU can see straight the end OF
the gun will come in lh,e whether the bar
rels are long or short.
The Engineer was dis posed to look on
the Farmer as a heather in his blindness.
but had seen some evidences OF that placid
mans shooting strength and kept silent.
As for the Doctor. who bad some ex-
r,erience. he believed that ne best thing
to do was to throw up the gtu and shoot.
trusting to the God OF Chance. and the
Emancpated Journalist being lazy and
of inquiring mind, knew nothing about
IL and waited for developments.
The party started with fifty shells apiece.
That was by agreement Of the E1 gineer
and the Doctor, who were shooting against
each other, to zee which one OF them should
build the other old.fashioned Southern
toddies on demand
1t was sn ideal day for snipe. The sky
was AZ clear as q bell, the sun hot and the
breeze lust sufficient 10 bend the grasses a
little and oblige the birds to use II as lever
under their wings when they left the ground.
A dry whisper came from the grass and
weeds of the marsh and under it was the
steady unCertone of the booming surf of
the Gulf three miles away.
The marsh stretched TO the horizon and
beyond, so there was plenty OF room in
which to test the Engineers theories. He
did exactly as the books told him to do.
He flushed his birds and set his eye hard
on them. He brought up his expensive
Greener gun, saying to himself that the kill
was certain,
70 follow the weavings Of the fight. He
waited until he thought the fugitive had
steadied In its semi -gyrations. Ihen ne
pressed the trigger slowly. peered through
the slight haze Of smoke, ana saw the snipe
growing rapidly smaller in the distance.
The causes of his i'll success were two.
He was waiting until the birds were almost
out OF range and the snipe does not delay
Tor ANYBODY Then he was not allowing
for the drop of the shot at that distance
and all OF the pellets were passing under,
Meantime the Doctor was doing better
The Engineers learned discourse about
waiting until the birds steaded had made
eome impression on him In spite Of himself
and he was shooting too slowly, but not so
slowly a. his rival. So he managed TO
knock down one or two. .
He winged a snipe and ran toward il
and after desperate chase and n fall OF
two caught IT, Then hoarse flyer spranR
ND directly in his front. went away like a
bullet and in some mysterious manner his
gun went of and he killed 1t dead in air.
1T fell within fifteen yards OF him and
glow of self satisfaction ran through him
from his corduroy cap To the tips OF bis
rubber boots. The Engineer had seen the
shot and. though he knew IL to be the child
Of accident, swore under his breath. The
Doctor turned TO him, holding the bird by
the bill, it's legs dangling,
I'm the Last man in the world to heave
bouquets at myself, he SAID, but what dc
YOU think Of that:
The Engineer said never word. He
had used a dozen shells and had two jaa /
snipe; the Doctor had used eleven and hao
three jacksnipe. The Engineer knew thls
edged away, holding his gun at full cock
and longing for ability to make double,
Directly jack leaped five feet To the
right The spring carried II ten feet In ali
and II darted straight back. The Engineer
does not know to-day how Il was done
he never will know; strange thing happen
In tho bunting field. but the gun went 10
his shoulder, he screwed himself hail round
In his soggy tracks. the right barrcl spoke
almost instantly, though he had no idea
that he was In line. and tho bird rapidly
struck the soft earth and lay upon it's hack,
its legs sticking upwnrd.
The Engineer picked il up. He did not
pause to notice that the kill had been made
In less than fifty feet. He shook his victim
at the Doctor and called oxultingy:
sThree here, boss. Maybe you'n know
bow when you get old"
4 For answer the Doctor raised his gun,
standing with short legs straddled widely.
Par TO the right a snipe had flushed from
the Journalist and had lowered, going up
until II was only spcck against the blue
Then, with wings sharply bowed, it had
started down on long slant. coming like
afalline meteor, and the rush Of il distinctly
asc.tb.o.
Its long slant carried IL toward the Doctor
and It crossed him some forty yards high
still going down II intended to pitch q
hundred yards further on.
What he did was to shoot AT the sky. ",
did not see the snipe when he pulled the
trigger. He knew only that u was some
Al