THE DUSKY GEOITSE. 139 



yon found it necessary to shoot liim, and I can sympa- 

 thize with your feelings. It is very painfnl to be bad- 

 ger-cide. " 



As no notice was taken of this, he relapsed into silence 

 until we reached the promontory. He was placed on a 

 stand there, with instructions to shoot anything that at- 

 tempted to bite him, even if it were a field mouse, and 

 he promised to obey orders. We had not been long in 

 position before the chorus of the dogs again resounded 

 throughout the forest, and in less than twenty minutes 

 we saw a deer swimming rapidly through the lake, and 

 heading directly for us. I was on a runway below 

 Smith, and as he seemed to have a good chance of killing 

 the animal, I ran towards him to see if I could get a 

 shot, in case he missed, but I soon found I had had my 

 race for nothing, for on reaching his stand he had the 

 creature lying on the sand before him, having shot it in 

 the head with a charge of bucksliot. 



" What made you shoot that doe?" I exclaimed; "you 

 know she is running with her young." 



"Doe you not like it?" he asked, with an unsophisti- 

 cated air, as if he wanted to pretend he did not know he 

 was trying to perpetrate a vile pun. 



"No," said I, "you should never shoot a doe when 

 she has her fawns with her; it is really cruel! " 



"I'm very sorry," was the answer, "but I will not 

 doe it again." 



The huntsman and the other members of the company 

 soon joined us, and we learned from the former that the 

 doe and her two fawns had started off together before 

 the dogs, but that she concealed the latter in some shrub- 

 bery, and then led the hounds a merry race until she 

 plunged into the lake. He thought that few animals 

 could exceed a " squaw deer "in sagacity when she had 

 her fawns by her side, as she had tlie habit of hiding 

 them in thickets, and then circling about them, in order 



