ninety-nine out of the first one hundred and one, and missing the
remaining two by such a close margin that they swayed to and fro as
though fanned by a slight breeze. As I fired my one hundred and first
shot what should I see before me but a flock of these delicate birds
floating upon the placid waters of the bay!"

"Was this the Bay of Biscay, Baron?" queried Columbus, with a covert
smile at Ptolemy.

"I counted them," said the Baron, ignoring the question, "and there were
just sixty-eight. 'Here's a chance for the record, Baron,' said I to
myself, and then I made ready to shoot them. Imagine my dismay,
gentlemen, when I discovered that while I had plenty of powder left I had
used up all my bullets. Now, as you may imagine, to a man with no
bullets at hand, the sight of sixty-eight fat canvas-backs is hardly
encouraging, but I was resolved to have every one of those birds; the
question was, how shall I do it? I never can think on water, so I
paddled quietly ashore and began to reflect. As I lay there deep in
thought, I saw lying upon the beach before me a superb oyster, and as
reflection makes me hungry I seized upon the bivalve and swallowed him.
As he went down something stuck in my throat, and, extricating it, what
should it prove to be but a pearl of surpassing beauty. My first thought
was to be content with my day's find. A pearl worth thousands surely was
enough to satisfy the most ardent lover of sport; but on looking up I saw
those ducks still paddling contentedly about, and I could not bring
myself to give them up. Suddenly the idea came, the pearl is as large as
a bullet, and fully as round. Why not use it? Then, as thoughts come to
me in shoals, I next reflected, 'Ah--but this is only one bullet as
against sixty-eight birds:' immediately a third thought came, 'why not
shoot them all with a single bullet? It is possible, though not