"I was just going to pick them up." "Pick' em up then," cried Dave quietly; "where are they then ?" Dick looked sharply round him; but there was not an egg to be seen, and he realised that Dave had cheated him, and drawn him into a declaration that was not true.
He was very silent under the laughter of his companions, and felt it all the more.
They went on, the lads sometimes finding an egg or two, but nearly all falling to Dave, who, as if by unerring instinct, went straight to the spots where the nests lay, and secured the spoil.
Now and then a heron flew up, one with a small eel twining about its bill; and more than once a hare went bounding off from its form among the dry last year's grass.
"We want Hickathrift's dog here," cried Dick.
"What for, lad?
what for ?" said Dave, laughing.
"To catch the hares." "Nay, yow want no dog," said Dave.

"Easy enough to catch hares." "Easy! How ?" cried Tom.
"Go up to 'em and catch 'em," said Dave coolly.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Dick, and his companion joined in.

"I should like to see you catch a hare, Dave." "Shouldst ta, lad?
Very well, wait a bit." They tramped on, with Dave picking up an egg here, a couple there, in a way that was most exasperating to the boys, whose luck was very bad.
"I never saw such eyes," said Tom.

"I can't see the eggs like he can." Dave chuckled as if he had a rattlesnake in his throat, and they went on for a while till Dick stopped suddenly, and pointed to the side of one of the fen ponds.
"That isn't a heron," he said.
"No.

One o' them long-legged ones--a crane," said Dave.