Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 8).djvu/295

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the same, Gina. [To Gregers.] He was shooting from a boat, you see, and he brought her down. But your father's sight is not very good now. H'm; she was only wounded.

Gregers.

Ah! She got a couple of slugs in her body, I suppose.

Hialmar.

Yes, two or three.

Hedvig. She was hit under the wing, so that she couldn't fly.

Gregers. And I suppose she dived to the bottom, eh?

Ekdal.

[Sleepily, in a thick voice.] Of course. Always do that, wild ducks do. They shoot to the bottom as deep as they can get, sir—and bite themselves fast in the tangle and seaweed—and all the devil's own mess that grows down there. And they never come up again.

Gregers.

But your wild duck came up again, Lieutenant Ekdal.

Ekdal.

He had such an amazingly clever dog, your father had. And that dog—he dived in after the duck and fetched her up again.

Gregers.

[Who has turned to Hialmar.] And then she was sent to you here?