Suddenly, after bursting through a mass of thorns and wild-vine, which
was in truth almost impassable, I came upon a little grassy spot quite
clear of trees, and covered with the tenderest verdure, through which a
narrow rill stole silently; and as I set my first foot on it, up jumped,
with his beautiful variegated back all reddened by the sunbeams, a fine
and full-fed woodcock, with the peculiar twitter which he utters when
surprised. He had not gone ten yards, however, before my gun was at my
shoulder and the trigger drawn; before I heard the crack I saw him
cringe; and, as the white smoke drifted off to leeward, he fell heavily,
completely riddled by the shot, into the brake before me; while at the
same moment, whir-r-r! up sprung a bevy of twenty quail, at least,
startling me for the moment by the thick whirring of their wings, and
skirring over the underwood right toward Archer. "Mark, quail!" I
shouted, and, recovering instantly my nerves, fired my one remaining
barrel after the last bird! It was a long shot, yet I struck him fairly,
and he rose instantly right upward, towering high! high! into the clear
blue sky, and soaring still, till his life left him in the air, and he
fell like a stone, plump downward!
"Mark him! Tim!"
"Ey! ey! sur.
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