But we must take our guns." "Why take our guns ?" asked Servadac.

"I hope we are not going to fight." "No, not with men," said Ben Zoof; "but it does not answer to throw a chance away for giving battle to those thieves of birds." Leaving little Nina and her goat in the gourbi, Servadac, Count Timascheff, and the lieutenant, greatly mystified, took up their guns and followed the orderly.

All along their way they made unsparing slaughter of the birds that hovered over and around them.

Nearly every species of the feathered tribe seemed to have its representative in that living cloud.

There were wild ducks in thousands; snipe, larks, rooks, and swallows; a countless variety of sea-birds--widgeons, gulls, and seamews; beside a quantity of game--quails, partridges, and woodcocks.
The sportsmen did their best; every shot told; and the depredators fell by dozens on either hand.
Instead of following the northern shore of the island, Ben Zoof cut obliquely across the plain.