Fishing on Stilts.--A Capsize.--Wild-fowl-Shooting.--
A Flare-up.
December was ushered in with a week of storm and wet, and as the boys
were shut out from outdoor pursuits they had more leisure for indoor
studies; and one day a bright idea occurred to Jimmy, by the carrying
out of which he said he could fish the broad without the trouble of
rowing a boat. So on a Saturday afternoon, when the clouds had broken,
and the rain ceased, and the still water reflected the pale blue of the
December sky, Frank and Dick sat at the boat-house window watching Jimmy
put his plan into execution.
He had turned a couple of leaping-poles into stilts. His feet rested
upon foot-rests, but were not fastened to them, so that if he fell into
the water his feet would be free and he could keep himself right-end
uppermost; but the crutches of the stilts which came up under his arms
were lightly tied around his shoulders, to leave his arms at liberty to
use a rod. And now, having been fairly started by the aid of his
friends, he was stalking along like a huge heron in about five feet of
water, and was spinning for pike, casting his bait to right and left of
him and oftentimes behind him,--for his movements were rather uncertain
and erratic; and as making a cast disturbed his equilibrium, he was
obliged to execute a sort of waltz-step to recover himself. Frank and
Dick were in ecstasies of laughter at his involuntary antics.
"He will never catch any fish in that way," observed Dick.
In a little while, however, they saw his rod bend double, and it was
evident that a good-sized pike had seized his bait. Then Jimmy made a
stumble, and a violent effort to recover himself, and in so doing turned
his back to the pike, which resented the insult by making a savage rush,
pulling Jimmy backwards.
There was a violent sort of war-dance on Jimmy's part, during which one
of the stilts seemed to be pointing upwards, and then Jimmy, with a last
wild flourish of a stilt in the air, descended from his lofty height and
disappeared beneath the waters of the broad.
Frank and Dick hastened, as fast as their laughter would allow them, to
the punt, and rowed to meet Jimmy, who was half wading half swimming
towards them, the two long stilts trailing behind him from his
shoulders, and his rod following Mr. Pike on a different course.
"Swim after your rod, Jimmy," cried Frank.
"Whoo, hoo! it is so cold," spluttered Jimmy.
He scrambled into the punt, and, just staying to recover the rod, and
with it a pike of about six pounds in weight, they rowed back, and Jimmy
ran home to change.
Frank afterwards said to Jimmy,--
"That stilt dodge of yours is a capital idea. You see you caught a pike
directly with it. Won't you try it again?"
"No, thank you," said Jimmy, "once ducked, twice shy."
After a few days' fine weather a hard frost and deep snow set in. A
stiff breeze prevented the broad from being frozen over, and swept the
snow into drifts wherever there was anything to arrest its progress.
When the snow had ceased, the wind and frost still continued, and
wild-fowl in large numbers visited the broad. Dick did not care
sufficiently about the shooting to make him willing to face the cold;
but Jimmy and Frank had capital sport among the wild-ducks. They killed
the greatest number when the ducks took their morning or evening flight
across a reedy spit of land which ran out into the broad. Here the boys
had sunk a large cask in the earth, and when they were both hidden in
this, packed in with dry straw and a retriever with them, they were warm
and comfortable. The whistle of wings cleaving the air, or a cry of
wild-fowl in the starlit silence of the night, would arouse them, and,
with their heads peering over the top of the cask, they had their guns
in readiness to salute the dark objects passing over with a shower of
shot.
In the morning the retriever searched for and picked up the dead birds,
and the young gunners finished off the wounded. For four successive
nights they enjoyed good sport in this manner, and then it was put an
end to by a singular accident. Frank lit a match to see what time it
was, and a lighted splinter fell among the dry straw, which instantly
blazed up.
"Look out for the powder!" shouted Frank; and he and Jimmy and the dog
scrambled out of the cask pell-mell, tumbling over each other in their
eagerness to be away from the dangerous proximity of the fire. Frank had
the powder-flask in his pocket, and fortunately no fire came near it.
The boys too escaped without injury, except that their hair was pretty
well singed by the rapid rise of the flame. The retriever was so
frightened that he turned tail and bolted, never stopping until he
reached his kennel.
"This is a pretty go," exclaimed Jimmy, as with their guns under their
arms they watched the tall, roaring column of flame and smoke which
ascended from the burning tub.
"The people all about will wonder what it is. What a pity we have
nothing to hold water in, so that we could try and put it out! The tub
has caught, and will be burnt up."
The sound of oars was now audible across the water, and presently Dick's
voice shouted,--
"What's the matter? Are you all right?" and a boat was run ashore, and
Dick and Mary, well wrapped up, stepped out.
Dick had been spending the evening at Mr. Merivale's, and just as he was
leaving the house, the bright tongue of flame on the opposite side of
the broad alarmed him, and Mary insisted upon coming with him to see
what mischief her brother had been perpetrating.
They rowed back, followed by the fitful glare of the fire, which shone
in their eddying wake, amid the clamour of wild-fowl startled into
flight by the unusual apparition. Then as Mary was silently admiring the
strange weird scene, there was a blinding flash, followed by two loud
reports, which made her start and scream, and then two splashes in the
water, as two ducks out of a number which had been passing over the
boats fell to the aim of Frank and Jimmy.