The bullet struck that pigeon on the crop, out of which fell a shower of acorns that it had been eating, as it sank to the ground stone dead.

Number two pigeon, realizing danger, began to mount upwards almost straight.

I fired the second barrel, and by good luck shot its head off.

Then I snatched the other rifle, which Charles had been loading automatically, from his outstretched hand, for at that moment I saw two more pigeons coming.

At the first I risked a difficult shot and hit it far back, knocking out its tail, but bringing it, still fluttering, to the ground.