DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0365
DISCO VBRIBS A T ABO U SIMBBL. 347
happy. So the painter pitches his tent on the top of the
sand-drift; and the writer sketches the ruined convent
opposite; and L------and the little lady write no end of
letters; and the idle man, with Mehemet Ali for a re-
triever, shoots quail, and everybody is satisfied.
Hapless idle man! hapless but homicidal. If he had
been content to shoot only quail, and had not taken to
shooting babies! What possessed him to do it? Not—not
lot us hope—an ill-directed ambition foiled of crocodiles!
He went serene and smiling, with his gun under his arm,
and Mehemet Ali in his wake. Who so light of heart as
that idle man? Who so light of heel as that turbaned
retriever? We heard our sportsman popping away pres-
ently in the barley. It was a jileasant sound, for we knew
his aim was true. " Every shot," said we, " means a
bird." \Vre little dreamed that one of those shots meant a
baby.
All at once a woman screamed. It was a sharp, sudden
scream, following a shot — a scream with a ring of horror
ln it. Instantly it was caught up from point to point,
growing in volume and seeming to be echoed from every
direction at once. At the same moment the bank became
alive with human beings. They seemed to spring from
the soil—women shrieking and waving their arms ; men
burning; all making for the same goal. The writer heard
the scream, saw the rush, and knew at once that a gun
accident had happened.
A few minutes of painful suspense followed. Then
•Mehemet Ali appeared, tearing back at the top of his
speed; and presently—perhaps five minutes later, though
't seemed like twenty—came the idle man ; walking very
slowly and defiantly, with his head up, his arms folded,
his gun gone, and an immense rabble at his heels.
Our scanty crew, armed with sticks, flew at once to the
rescue, and brought him off in safety. We then learned
what had happened.
A flight of quail had risen ; and as quail fly low, skim-
ming the surface of the grain and diving down again
a'most immediately, he had taken a level aim. At the
distant that he fired, and in the very path of the quail, a
Woman and child who had been squatting in the barley,
sprang up screaming. He at once saw the coming danger;
aud, with admirable presence of mind, drew the charge of
happy. So the painter pitches his tent on the top of the
sand-drift; and the writer sketches the ruined convent
opposite; and L------and the little lady write no end of
letters; and the idle man, with Mehemet Ali for a re-
triever, shoots quail, and everybody is satisfied.
Hapless idle man! hapless but homicidal. If he had
been content to shoot only quail, and had not taken to
shooting babies! What possessed him to do it? Not—not
lot us hope—an ill-directed ambition foiled of crocodiles!
He went serene and smiling, with his gun under his arm,
and Mehemet Ali in his wake. Who so light of heart as
that idle man? Who so light of heel as that turbaned
retriever? We heard our sportsman popping away pres-
ently in the barley. It was a jileasant sound, for we knew
his aim was true. " Every shot," said we, " means a
bird." \Vre little dreamed that one of those shots meant a
baby.
All at once a woman screamed. It was a sharp, sudden
scream, following a shot — a scream with a ring of horror
ln it. Instantly it was caught up from point to point,
growing in volume and seeming to be echoed from every
direction at once. At the same moment the bank became
alive with human beings. They seemed to spring from
the soil—women shrieking and waving their arms ; men
burning; all making for the same goal. The writer heard
the scream, saw the rush, and knew at once that a gun
accident had happened.
A few minutes of painful suspense followed. Then
•Mehemet Ali appeared, tearing back at the top of his
speed; and presently—perhaps five minutes later, though
't seemed like twenty—came the idle man ; walking very
slowly and defiantly, with his head up, his arms folded,
his gun gone, and an immense rabble at his heels.
Our scanty crew, armed with sticks, flew at once to the
rescue, and brought him off in safety. We then learned
what had happened.
A flight of quail had risen ; and as quail fly low, skim-
ming the surface of the grain and diving down again
a'most immediately, he had taken a level aim. At the
distant that he fired, and in the very path of the quail, a
Woman and child who had been squatting in the barley,
sprang up screaming. He at once saw the coming danger;
aud, with admirable presence of mind, drew the charge of