“Wait a moment, then;” and Orlandi began to imitate the clucking of the hen pheasant.
Then, without our being able to see the bird, we perceived a movement in the leaves of the chestnut-tree. The pheasant was evidently mounting branch by branch as he replied to the call of the hen imitated by Orlandi.
At length he arrived at the end of a branch, and was quite visible in the moonlight.
Orlandi ceased, and the pheasant remained motionless.
At the same moment Lucien levelled his gun, and, with a quick aim, fired.
The pheasant fell like a stone.
“Fetch it!” said Lucien to Diamond.
The dog rushed into the brushwood, and soon returned with the bird, pierced by the bullet, in his mouth.
“That is a good shot,” I said. “I congratulate you upon it, particularly with a fowling-piece.”