But, as the day grew older, Samson heard the popping of guns off to
the side, where other gunners lay in other blinds, and presently a
drake veered from his line of flight, far off to the right, harkened to
the voice of temptation, and led his flock circling toward the blind.
Then, with a whir and drumming of dark-tipped wings, they came down,
and struck the water, and the boy from Misery rose up, shooting as he
came. He heard the popping of his guide's gun at his side, and saw the
dead and crippled birds falling about him, amid the noisy clamor of
their started flight.

That day, while the mountaineer was out on the flats, the party of men
at the club had been swelled to a total of six, for in pursuance of the
carefully arranged plans of Mr. Farbish, Mr. Bradburn had succeeded in
inducing Wilfred Horton to run down for a day or two of the sport he
loved. To outward seeming, the trip which the two men had made together
had been quite casual, and the outgrowth of coincidence; yet, in point
of fact, not only the drive from Baltimore in Horton's car, but the
conversation by the way had been in pursuance of a plan, and the result
was that, when Horton arrived that afternoon, he found his usually even
temper ruffled by bits of maliciously broached gossip, until his
resentment against Samson South had been fanned into danger heat. He
did not know that South also was at the club, and he did not that
afternoon go out to the blinds, but so far departed from his usual
custom as to permit himself to sit for hours in the club grill.