Hunting Stories

"I hear they're having gfeat goosehnutíng over in New Jersey," said Mr. Magruder, in the boarding-house, last night. "Are they? " said Maguffin. " I never had muoh luck duok shooting." " I anppose not," said Magruder, compassionately " not mu oh usod to firearms, hey? I never read sbout geese but I think of a day's sport I had down on Shinneoook bay one day last year. The geese were flying vory thick, and I took my V gun, and - " Your V gun ! " interrupted Mr. Maguffln : " what is a V gun ? " " You will learn further on in the narration,"'answered Magruder, continuing his story--" and went down .there. One morüing We sa coming up from the soutii ühat 1 stipposo -fas the biggest flook of geese that -ever flew. Tliey came along in their usual way, flying in a triangle, with the leader on the point toward us. I got a fisherman to hold the V gun, and I took aim and let her go. The charge just cleaned both the wings off the leader, and then spread óüt llke a V, and I ara afraid yoti will scarcely believë më Mi; Maguffln, but it just went down the lüside Hne of birds, and carried away their inner wings as clean as though they had been chopped off with a hatchet. Losing their balance from having only one wing apiece, they were thrown violently together by the continued flapping of the outside wings. Every bird was killed by the shoek of the collision, and they feil to the earth iti. it lifie that measured 461 feet. There were just 809 birds ; 402 pairs, and the old head goose that was the leader." " Your speaking of long-necked creatures," said Maguffm, calmly, "remipds me of my giraffe hunt in South África. Great sport, giraffe kuntiag. We had one hunter that was suoh a fast runner that he would often get clear ahead of the party and catch a giraffe all by himself . Then he'd take a oouple of turns on the giraffe's neck around a tree, and hold him ufitil we eome up. One day I wrts ötit álonfej aüd I carne across two treniendous giraffes togetherj away from the woods. I sneaked up behind them, grabbed them by their heads, and tied 'em together by their neoks and there I had 'em I"' "Perhaps you'll kindly teil us," said Mr. Magruder, " how you got hold of their heads?" " What! You don't mean to teil me, Mr. Magruder, that you don't know how they hunt giraffes ? Why, you ignorant loon, giraffe hunters always wear stilts !" - Max Adeler.