At one end it was open, with soft black loamy soil,
covered with docks and colts-foot leaves under the shade of large but
leafless willows, and here we picked up a good many scattered woodcock;
afterward we got into the heavy thicket with much tangled grass, wherein
we flushed a bevy, but they all took to tree, and we made very little of
them; and here Tom Draw began to blow and labor; the covert was too
thick, the bottom too deep and unsteady for him.
Archer perceiving this, sent him at once to the outside; and three
times, as we went along, ourselves moving nothing, we heard the round
reports of his large calibre. "A bird at every shot, I'd stake my life,"
said Harry, "he never misses cross shots in the open;" at the same
instant, a tremendous rush of wings burst from the heaviest thicket:
"Mark! partridge! partridge!" and as I caught a glimpse of a dozen large
birds fluttering up, one close upon the other, and darting away as
straight and nearly as fast as bullets, through the dense branches of a
cedar brake, I saw the flashes of both Harry's barrels, almost
simultaneously discharged, and at the same time over went the objects of
his aim; but ere I could get up my gun the rest were out of sight.
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