§ 273 An Attack on the Affiliated Talent
Two professional confidence-men made the acquaintance of a wealthy sportsman. He admired their sprightliness while privately deploring their vocation.
When the acquaintance had ripened into friendship he invited them to shoot in his private preserve. Before daylight they were paddled out in a skiff and put in a blind which, the night before, had been stocked with wooden decoys. There the guide left them, for the time being.
As the dawn began to break, one of the pair suddenly was aware of the wooden birds bobbing about in front of him. The light was poor and he was green at the duck-shooting game. He arose and fired both barrels of his gun into the flock.
His partner straightened up, took one look, and cried out in distress:
“My God! You’re shootin’ the boosters!”