DRAKE, THE RETRIEVER.
It happened at this time that we passed another winter in Ireland; andmissing our garden, and other occupations, my father made us a presentof a dog.
Drake was a large handsome retriever of a dark brown colour, with veryshort curly hair. I believe that sort of dog is called the "IrishRetriever;" they are certainly very common in that country. I rememberto have seen many of them; but our Drake, we thought, was handsomerthan the generality; his coat was more curly and of a better colour,and he was taller--for they often have rather short legs in proportionto their body. He was a very rough bouncing creature, full of life andactivity; many a tumble, and many a hard knock we received in our gameswith him; he used to bound at us, and putting both paws on ourshoulders, roll us over like ninepins.
It was winter when he came to us--a very hard winter, almost constantfrost, and now and then heavy falls of snow--we were at that time in asmall fort on the bank of the Shannon; and although that is a verybroad, deep, and rapid river, it was once, during the winter, quitefrozen over for more than a week; and, after that, when the strongestcurrent remained unfrozen, there was still a great deal of ice on thesides, and all among the sedges and rushes that grew among the flatbanks.
Drake liked the cold very much, and liked rolling in the snow, andbeing pelted with snow-balls, which was our chief amusement out ofdoors during the winter.
In the house we had fine games of hide and seek; we hid a glove orpocket-handkerchief under the sofa-cushion, or in the curtain, or inMamma's pocket, and telling Drake to find it; he would rush franticallyabout the room, snuffing in every hole and corner, until he brought tolight the hidden article. Then we had races, in and out the bed-roomsand sitting-rooms, up and down the stairs, and round the tables; butthese races generally ended by something being thrown down, or, atleast, by our clothes being torn in Drake's exultation at catching us.
Whilst the hard frosts lasted, Papa had Drake out with him a greatdeal.
Wild geese and wild ducks abounded on the river; but they wereextremely difficult to shoot; they generally flew in great numbers, andseemed to keep a sentinel, or one to look out; for it was almostimpossible to approach them near enough to have them within the reachof a shot.
It was now that Drake's fetching and carrying propensities became mostvaluable.
Papa had a flat punt constructed; it was a most curious-looking boat,so flat that it scarcely stood out of the water at all; inside wasfixed a large duck-gun on a swivel, and then there was just room forPapa, and one man, to lie down at the bottom, with Drake; it was rowedby one paddle at the stern.
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The geese and ducks used to come to feed on the river's banks veryearly indeed in the morning; and so watchful and shy were they, thateven in the flat punt, Papa found that he could not come at all nearthem unperceived. Off they would all go again, making such a flappingwith their great wings, and quacking as they went.
So Papa, having noticed a flat swampy sort of place, some way down theriver, set out late at night in the punt; and, reaching thisfeeding-ground, waited there till the flock came flying over them. Theymade themselves heard sometime before they arrived; and then Papa, theman, and Drake, all crouched down and remained immoveable until thebirds were right overhead; and then, bang went the great duck-gun, anddown tumbled, at least, half-a-dozen great fat geese.
Now was Drake's time; and but for him no geese would have been broughthome, although many might have been shot.
Out of the punt sprang Drake, and soon carried back one or two that hadfallen into the open water; then he would carefully get upon the thinice, between the rushes and the coarse grass, and bring to light anywounded bird that had sought to find a shelter there. Then again intothe water where great thick reeds prevented the boat from going; if thebirds dived, he dived after them; and, in short, none escaped him; heswam after them, scrambled along the ice after them, rummaged in theweeds all stiff with frozen snow, and having seized one and hurriedback to the boat with it, off he would start for another.
But when the flock had once received a shot, they came no more to thesame place that night; so no more was to be done, unless a chance birdor two on the way home. Sometimes they flew one or two together; wehave seen them from the windows of the fort, fly quite close to thebridge in the daytime; but only great hunger could have driven them tothis.
When the party reached home, and the birds were spread out on the floorto be looked at, how pleased Drake was, and how proudly he snuffed fromone to the other.
The wild geese were very handsome birds, not so large as common geese,but very plump, and with a beautiful dark brown plumage. They were verygood to eat, for they do not live on fish, as some suppose, but eatonly the weeds and grass that they find in certain spots along theriver's bank. But the ducks were handsomer still, very nearly as largeas the geese; less tough when cooked, and having brilliant bluefeathers in each wing. Then there was a smaller kind of duck, withgreen feathers instead of blue, in the wings; this green was like thehumming bird's green, as bright as emerald.
Besides these, there were teals, very pretty-looking things withsilvery looking feathers on the breast, and a variety of small ducks,and curlews. All pretty, and all good to eat; we had to thank Drake forevery one of them, as without his help very few would have been pickedup; there was so much thin ice along the river, that would not haveborne a greater weight than Drake, so when they fell upon this, theywere quite out of man's reach, to say nothing of the difficulty ofgroping out a wounded bird from a wilderness of long grass and rushes,growing in pretty deep water. Drake highly enjoyed the nightexpeditions, and when the punt was getting ready, or the gun cleaning,he would jump about and bark, as if to say "I know what is incontemplation."
When the winter was nearly passed, we went back to England, leavingDrake in the fort; being much played with and sometimes teazed by thesoldiers, he became very rough, and rather inclined to snap and bite.Shortly afterwards he was sent to us in England, and on his arrival webrought him in, to have a game with us in the house. We had a largeball, and were making Drake fetch it, when we rolled it to the end ofthe room. This went on very well for some time, excepting that Drakedid not give the ball up without a growl, which he had never doneformerly; and at last, he laid down with it between his fore feet, andI desired him to bring it in vain, so I went to him and took it in myhand, when he flew at me with a growl, and bit my cheek. It was not avery severe bite, but Mamma said she would not keep the best dog in theworld after he had bitten one of us, and that Drake must immediately besent away. Then Papa wrote to a gentleman who knew what a clever dog atfinding game Drake was, and he agreed to buy him. So he was sent offwithout our seeing him again.