After we got hold of a small deer rifle we used to practise at the snakes in the mere--aiming at the head, which is about the size of a nut, and shows above the surface wobbling as they move.

I recollect cutting a snake's head clean off with a ball from a pistol as he hastened away through the grass.
In winter, when the jacks came up and lay immediately under the ice, they could be easily shot.

The pellets cut a round hole through an inch and a half of ice.

The jack now basking in the pond was the more tempting because we had often tried to wire him in vain.

The difficulty was to get him if hit.