CHAPTER XXXIV.
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 boyswere shut out from outdoor pursuits they had more leisure for indoorstudies; and one day a bright idea occurred to Jimmy, by the carryingout of which he said he could fish the broad without the trouble ofrowing 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 theDecember sky, Frank and Dick sat at the boat-house window watching Jimmyput his plan into execution.
He had turned a couple of leaping-poles into stilts. His feet restedupon foot-rests, but were not fastened to them, so that if he fell intothe water his feet would be free and he could keep himself right-enduppermost; but the crutches of the stilts which came up under his armswere lightly tied around his shoulders, to leave his arms at liberty touse a rod. And now, having been fairly started by the aid of hisfriends, he was stalking along like a huge heron in about five feet ofwater, and was spinning for pike, casting his bait to right and left ofhim and oftentimes behind him,--for his movements were rather uncertainand erratic; and as making a cast disturbed his equilibrium, he wasobliged to execute a sort of waltz-step to recover himself. Frank andDick 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 wasevident that a good-sized pike had seized his bait. Then Jimmy made astumble, and a violent effort to recover himself, and in so doing turnedhis 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 oneof the stilts seemed to be pointing upwards, and then Jimmy, with a lastwild flourish of a stilt in the air, descended from his lofty height anddisappeared beneath the waters of the broad.
Frank and Dick hastened, as fast as their laughter would allow them, tothe punt, and rowed to meet Jimmy, who was half wading half swimmingtowards them, the two long stilts trailing behind him from hisshoulders, 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, andwith it a pike of about six pounds in weight, they rowed back, and Jimmyran home to change.
Frank afterwards said to Jimmy,--
"That stilt dodge of yours is a capital idea. You see you caught a pikedirectly 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. Astiff breeze prevented the broad from being frozen over, and swept thesnow into drifts wherever there was anything to arrest its progress.When the snow had ceased, the wind and frost still continued, andwild-fowl in large numbers visited the broad. Dick did not caresufficiently about the shooting to make him willing to face the cold;but Jimmy and Frank had capital sport among the wild-ducks. They killedthe greatest number when the ducks took their morning or evening flightacross a reedy spit of land which ran out into the broad. Here the boyshad sunk a large cask in the earth, and when they were both hidden inthis, packed in with dry straw and a retriever with them, they were warmand comfortable. The whistle of wings cleaving the air, or a cry ofwild-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 gunsin readiness to salute the dark objects passing over with a shower ofshot.
In the morning the retriever searched for and picked up the dead birds,and the young gunners finished off the wounded. For four successivenights they enjoyed good sport in this manner, and then it was put anend to by a singular accident. Frank lit a match to see what time itwas, and a lighted splinter fell among the dry straw, which instantlyblazed up.
"Look out for the powder!" shouted Frank; and he and Jimmy and the dogscrambled out of the cask pell-mell, tumbling over each other in theireagerness to be away from the dangerous proximity of the fire. Frank hadthe powder-flask in his pocket, and fortunately no fire came near it.The boys too escaped without injury, except that their hair was prettywell singed by the rapid rise of the flame. The retriever was sofrightened that he turned tail and bolted, never stopping until hereached his kennel.
"This is a pretty go," exclaimed Jimmy, as with their guns under theirarms they watched the tall, roaring column of flame and smoke whichascended from the burning tub.
"The people all about will wonder what it is. What a pity we havenothing to hold water in, so that we could try and put it out! The tubhas caught, and will be burnt up."
The sound of oars was now audible across the water, and presently Dick'svoice shouted,--
"What's the matter? Are you all right?" and a boat was run ashore, andDick and Mary, well wrapped up, stepped out.
Dick had been spending the evening at Mr. Merivale's, and just as he wasleaving the house, the bright tongue of flame on the opposite side ofthe broad alarmed him, and Mary insisted upon coming with him to seewhat mischief her brother had been perpetrating.
They rowed back, followed by the fitful glare of the fire, which shonein their eddying wake, amid the clamour of wild-fowl startled intoflight by the unusual apparition. Then as Mary was silently admiring thestrange weird scene, there was a blinding flash, followed by two loudreports, which made her start and scream, and then two splashes in thewater, as two ducks out of a number which had been passing over theboats fell to the aim of Frank and Jimmy.