it never does to count upon
a thing until you're sure.
it's often less than you expect,
but very seldom more.
the hunter who has shot one of white's children chuckled of course he didn't need it the least bit in the world, having plenty of other things to eat.
the hunter who had shot one of the birds gleefully went forward to pick up the poor little brown bird. he was having what he called sport. it never entered his head to think of how the bob whites must feel. he probably didn't think that they had any feelings. he was pleased that he had made a successful shot, and he was pleased to think that he was to have that little brown bird to eat, though when he reached the place where he had seen the little bob white fall, there was no little brown bird there. no, sir, there was not a sign of that little bird save a few feathers. you see, he hadn't killed the little bob white as he had supposed, but had broken a wing so that it could not fly. but there was nothing the matter with its legs, and no sooner had it hit the ground than it had run as fast as ever it could through the stubble. so the little bob white wasn't where the hunter was looking for it at all.
of course his dog helped him hunt, and with that wonderful nose of his he soon found the scent of that little bob white and eagerly followed it. it just happened that in that field near where the little bob white fell was an old home of johnny chuck, and all around the entrance to it the sand had been spread out. now sand does not hold scent. the little bob white knew nothing about that, for he had not lived long enough to learn all that a bob white has to learn, but he did see the open doorway. across the yellow sand he ran and into the doorway and just a little way down the hall, where he hid under some dry, brown leaves which had blown in there. he was almost the color of them himself as he squatted close to the ground and drew his feathers as close to his body as possible. in doing this he was doing a very wise thing, though he didn't know it at the time. you see his feathers drawn tightly against his body that way prevented the scent which might have told the keen nose of that dog where he was.
as it was, the dog lost the scent at the edge of the sand, and neither he nor the hunter once thought to look in that old hole. so while they hunted and hunted, the little bob white squatted perfectly still, though his broken wing hurt him dreadfully, and the ache of it made his eyes fill with tears. at last the hunter gave up the search. he was too impatient to kill more.
“must be i just wounded him,” said he, without one thought of how dreadful it must be to be wounded. “probably a fox will get him. bet i kill the next one!”
with that he sent his dog on to try to find the little bob white's brothers and sisters, his terrible gun held ready to shoot the instant he should see one of them. he was having great sport, was that hunter, while in the hall of johnny chuck's old house lay a little brown bob white faint with suffering and dreadful fright. it would have been bad enough to simply have such a fright, but to have a broken wing and because of this to feel quite helpless—well, can you imagine anything worse?
