AMONG THE DUCKS

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 June 1901, Page 703

AMONG THE DUCKS

By M. H. Wynyakd.

Illustrated by

f'T\O|j|f V Maori canoeist, Wi Mackie, was W/mml very strong on the subject of /\IRI a sma^ a^ e some ye miles ~z^s^^ > distant. There had been quite a number of guns at work on the big lakes all the forenoon, and the "bang" and the "bang, bang," more particularly the latter, were much in evidence during the earlier hours of the morning, slackening greatly, however, towards midday. Now Wi knew the countryside well, and was a pastmaster in the art of duck shooting. He was the proud possessor of a "Greener" gun, which, though somewhat old, rather bright in the barrel, and a bit thin at the lip, was a good killing weapon, and in the hands of its owner, a deadly menace to the unwary birds. Wi, too, had wonderful eyes. He could see to shoot by the deceitful light of the moon almost as clearly as by day, while he never had any trouble in locating the duck in the thickest of raupo or rush swamps, where the vision of the inexperienced often failed to place them.

With these attributes, I held Wi's judgment in matters pertaining to duck shooting in some respect, and when he broached his knowledge of the little lake five miles away, where, when worried by

Ham/ Went

the sportsmen in the waterjareas, the duck and teal retired to peace and safety,] l was not slow to follow up£tho cluo, and ascertain more about this select preserve.

The further interrogation of Wi proving satisfactory, and sport becoming tamer with each passing hour, we decided after our camp lunch to raalco the journey to the promised Arcadia, and. test for ourselves the reality of the vision that our informant had raised before our mental view.

We had uot been a quarter of an hour on the march from our canoes bofore wo wished we had been less hurried in making up our minds. It was five years since Wi had traversed the route, and ho found that time had sadly altered it. Blindly following him, we were soon struggling ucross a swamp, dry fortunately, but full of holes aud pitfalls, and with tea-tree, wiwi, flax, and rushes matted together as if specially designed to bar our progress. That swamp was a warm spot, and when we got through its fifty chains of length, the greater proportion of our superfluous anatomy had exuded in perspiration. What was left of us emerged on a fern ridge, and down below we found a small lake a few acres in extent. We thought our goal had been reached, but, alas ! for our hopes, Wi pointed

to a ridge about two miles off, and said our destination lay the other side of that. Despair and rebel iion filled our hearts, and I think we should have struck tliere and then, had n-at the presence of a few ducks on the small lake before us caused some excitement, and given us a promise of better sport to come.

After a rest, well out of view of our quarry, we made a stalk of the " pond," and as it was deep, with dry swamp right up to its edge, and a fringe of high flax and tea-tee around it, we got in several effective volleys before the birds vacated the ground — or rather the water.

Somewhat restored by our success and a few biscuits, we continued our way. The country was a trackless wilderness, and the higher ground, with its tall tea-tree and fern, was little better from a pedestrian point of view than the swamp below. Following the ridge, it took us over the summit of a high hill, from which a grand view of the " Land o 1 Lakes " was obtainable, and which, from the clear evidence of trenches, pits, and ramparts, had in the distant days of barbaric Aotearoa been a native pa of

some pretensions. Leaving this we plunged down into the swamp once more, this time, thank goodness, for a short distance only, and fighting our way through the scrub, we arrived at length, breathless and perspiringon the ridge that had been our guiding star for sometime past. Below us, about a mile away, was a lake of about fifty acres in extent, and in the calm of the late afternoon it

looked peaceful indeed, lying there in its placid beauty, hidden away far from the habitation of man. But to our eyes the pleasantest sight of all, and the one that cast all other considerations into the shade, was the presence of innumerable dark objects closely clustei'ed together at the southern end of the lake, making it appear at the distance as though the contents of a gigantic pepper pot had been shaken over the surface. ,We knew that these specks were ducks, thousands of them, and the sight of their brave array at once drove out of recollection all memories of our arduous tramp.

Keeping as much as possible out of sight, we followed a shoulder of the ridge leading down to the water's edge, but when we reached the bank and peered through the rush-matted tea-tree that fringed the lake, we found ourselves still too far off for effective shooting. There . was only one method to adopt, to cross several intervening spurs and attack the enemy from the low swampy ground on the south. Leaving Wi and the

other natives, who had accompanied him, planted to pick off. stragglers, my friend and I stalked the quarry in quite approved fashion.

We passed exposed portions of the gullies on hands and knees, we stealthily clambered the sides of the ridges in shelter of tho scrub, where available, and, where there was none, assumed the undignified position that snakes generally affect, and crawled along the ground in a style that would have caused a Red Indian to turn green with envy. Unfortunately, modern clothes were not made in anticipation of this means of locomotion, and while my friend had subsequently to deplore the loss of pipe and tobacco from his pockets, I had to regret the loss of knees from my nether garments. However, these minor details were not known at the time, and in due course we i^eached the lower swamp. But, alas ! those duck, like other beings who have come to know our race well, were very fay and suspicious, and— to use an Irishism adapted to the occasion — as we got nearer to them they got further away from us. However, with the sun close to the western lu.rizon we knew our time was short, and we struggled on. As we neared the lake the swamp became deeper, first to our boot tops, then to our knees, and finally to our waists, and that too on a bed of tangled raupo that sprang up and down with our weight, like a wire mattress with reeds for wires, and suggested thoughts of deeper depths, and of eels and taniwhas, and other Maori horrors below. At last we could go no further. The enemy had moved off, and were fully one hundred and fifty yards away. Their black array stretched far and wide before us, and in the calm air the hoarse commands of the big grey generals, the lesser treble of the black teal, and the lapping noise of the birds in motion on the lake alone broke the silence. A tangled clump of rushes gave us a drier resting place, and seeing the utter hopelessness of proceeding further, we let go at a big grey duck, less suspicious than the rest, who came flying unconsciously within easy range. Now, when a single

duck rises from the water the noise he makes is fairly considerable for his size, and when you multiply that sound by something between live and seven thousand you can have some idea of the roar that followed the discharges of our guns on the quiet evening

air. The sound of the Manukiiu .Bur in a westerly gale was "small potatoes " beside the noise that this solid army made as each startled unit rose in terror and alarm from its position on the lake. For a minute the air was black with one compact muss, then gradually the edges broke! oil' and small companies came circling round. The deceased grey lay resting peacefully in (he water not twenty yards from us. Lured by its apparent equanimity, a company Hew to its side. " Bang, bang, bang, bang," and

away with hurrying wings the company flew, and later ollieial reports stated " casualties heavy." And now in quick succession sections, and divisions, and companies, aye, and whoie regiments, came circling round, and the artillery played at short range and with deadly elt'eet, until the hattlo ground grew black with the bodies of the slain.

Then from our ambushed native allies wo heard the guns starting to play as tho demoralised detachments 1 went winging past. Back again they came, and to and fro from fire to fire, till learning caution at. last, they circled higher and higher, and Hew in ones and twos, and tens, and twenties away over the ridges to those larger lakes, whence they had fled from the hungry hunters to this quiet retreat, to obtain (vain hope) peace and enjoyment, far from the cruel guns of men.

Only when our last cartridge) was spout did we stop tiring. By this time dusk was nearly on us, and it was as much as we could do to collect our spoils before the light completely failed. Then laden down with game, hungry, thirsty, and tired, we tramped back those weary five miles in darkness to our canoes. Here we got our cold rations, which lasted till camp was reached, when, over a roaring fire, we were soon discussing, at the same time, and with equal relish, a substantial meal and the battle we had participated in that day among the ducks.