I was alone, my servant having fallen ill, which was unfortunate, since I had always left the filling of my cartridge-box to him, and underestimated its capacity.

I started at six in the morning, and, not having hunted for several months, was not in very good form, so, no game appearing for a time, I took a few practice shots, trying to snip off the slender tops of the pine-trees that I encountered with my bullets, succeeding tolerably well for one who was a little rusty, bringing down ninety-nine out of the first one hundred and one, and missing the remaining two by such a close margin that they swayed to and fro as though fanned by a slight breeze.

As I fired my one hundred and first shot what should I see before me but a flock of these delicate birds floating upon the placid waters of the bay!" "Was this the Bay of Biscay, Baron ?" queried Columbus, with a covert smile at Ptolemy.
"I counted them," said the Baron, ignoring the question, "and there were just sixty-eight.

'Here's a chance for the record, Baron,' said I to myself, and then I made ready to shoot them.

Imagine my dismay, gentlemen, when I discovered that while I had plenty of powder left I had used up all my bullets.