The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-12-26
A Daily Story
 Real Life

of his power, He had made six grand tours along the airline from north to south, back again, back again, back again. He was a veteran.
 THE DESIRE TO co
 WAS UPON HIM
 Strange how that desire to go to far places would come upon him and take possession of him. It would start with a restlessness | that would not let him feed. It could set him to dreaming, crouch ed in the dense underbrush at the waters edge. It would send his golden eyes seeking over the horizon. It would attune his ears to tfy queer notes in the voices of other ducks, notes that throbbed with unease and eagerness for flight. And then there would come upon all the ducks craziness that set them to wheeling. plunging and hanging poised high in the air, grazing expectantly in the air. Waiting for something. What? Some mysterious unheard voice that spoke within them. A voice that suddenly said:
 "Go!"
 And away they'd go, shooting staight up into the air, taking their formation behind a leader which, up till that moment, they probably had never noticed before. A leader which was generally an oldster. Three years old. Stream lined. Irredescent. Bejewelled and powerful and wise.
 The drake went into the air that morning, full of that rest1essness. | EIA |. didn't remember it. He went up in the air and gazed around. He looked down upon the country be- low him. Wild country. Not cut into orderly squares as are the populated areas, but split up into curves and circles and arcs as are all natural things.
 He went into the air restless. He went into the air sad. He re- membered the bold little duck which had made advances that morning. And he remembered the drab little mate that had dropped out of his life into the dark waters. her little body rfddlcd with leaden pellets. Northward he looked and turned quickly away. Eastward he looked and gazed little longer. 1 Westward he looked and saw II interested. Southward he looked and heard an insistent voice within him saying:
 I "Goi" E.H
 He looked again and saw the whole sky alive with ducks. They rose from the marshes and the waters. They swirled into the brilliant golden blue and circled and dived. They made crazy pat terms. circles, dives, swoops. They poised, hung still in the air as though they rested gracefully on invisible platforms. And suddenly he heard his own harsh voice with an authoritative note in it. l, a"Quack!' He ordered stridently. "Quack! Quack!"
 He went further up into the blue, clim ping it almost straightly. Up there he hung poised and watched his great flock, circling, swinging into position below him.
 "Quack!" He said once more and streaked' away southward to- ward that voice which had called him. t
 ALL THE OTHER
 DUCK FELL IN BEHIND l And miraculously, all the other ducks had fallen in behind him, forming great V of which he was the apex. Behind him flew other strong drakes, the strongest. Be- hind them again came the older ducks. Behind them, the weaker ducks, the youngsters on firss flight.
 J Southward they flew, thousands of miles. Over forests, heavy and blurred, casting great shadows over the land. over mountains, bony, stony, unfriendly, alien. over broad streams that lured them down to rest and feed.f The drake always led them to their feeding. Somehow he knew all the feeding and resting places. Yet, he did not remember them. He just knew them. So they went southward. ever southward over country, city, plain and mountain, river, estuary and bay. 4 And while they sped on, the guns parked and flashed. Strange ducks called from the feeding grounds in Connecticut, South Jersey, Mary land and Virginia. And hundreds of ducks dropped out of formation, needing the voices, the Judas |voices. And so, hundreds were killed by the hunters. Until they reached North Caro- lima, our drake was safe because he had been wise. He had not needed the voices. Until one night, as he sank over broad expanSe of water from which ascended the heavenly aroma of wild celery, came the voice of his drab little mate. He dropped to it. instantly, : forgetting she was dead. The gun flashed. He felt hot, frantic stab in his breast and fell like 8 lplummet---to death.
 Howard O'Connor, New York sportsman, waded out of the blind in his great hip boots, picked up lthe drake and waded back to the blind. t4t eH
 "Gosh!" he said to the guide. II thought strained my gun on him. Lucky shot. Isn't he beautiful? Seems shame to kill him."
 "Yes," said the guide. He's fine and fat. He'll make good eating.'
 4, -rs.s -TIIE END