“Gun, sir!” said Shaddy just then; “big ducks coming up the river. Take it coolly, sir, and don’t shoot till you can get two or three.”
Brazier waited and waited, but the birds, which were feeding, came no farther.
“Hadn’t Mr Rob better try too, sir?” whispered Shaddy; “he wants to learn to shoot.”
Rob glanced at Brazier, who did not take his eyes from the ducks he was watching, and the boy hurriedly fetched his gun.
“What yer got in?” whispered Shaddy.
“Shot in one barrel, bullet in the other.”
“Bah!” growled the guide. “You don’t want bullet now. Yes, you do,” he continued. “Look straight across the water in between the trees, and tell me if you see anything.”
“No. Whereabouts?”
“Just opposite us. Now look again close to the water’s edge, where there’s that bit of an opening. Come, lad, where’s your eyes?”
“I don’t see anything but flowers and drooping boughs.”