THE DEEE HUNT. 97 



cessful in escaping, that it become well known at the 

 Jackson plantation, and was the object of a covert super- 

 stition to all the negroes, which mysterious fear rather 

 aided his escape, for when the boys saw it coming they 

 became so frightened, they could not hit forty paces 

 off. 



On reaching the run that Lem had mentioned, we rea- 

 dily found the tracks, and all drew up to examine them. 

 The presentation of some unknown bone to a company 

 of savans, or the appearance of a new bonnet at a coun- 

 try sewing society, occasions not more curiosity and sage 

 comment than does the discovery of a new track in the 

 woods. One mentions its size, another recognizes old 

 peculiarities or marks, another says it was the foot of a 

 male animal, another that it was fat in flesh, and another 

 that it was going on an easy trot, and not disturbed, and 

 what is stranger still, from the small data of four marks 

 in the damp soil, all these facts arrived at are the results 

 of careful observation, and seldom incorrect. 



According to the congress now assembled, this buck 

 was the old white buck, so called from an unusually 

 white coat, and had gone at a gentle gait into the Black 

 Jack hummock, which lay two miles further on, and 

 before which we presently arrived. It was about a half 

 mile in length by three quarters broad, and was filled, 

 like the other swamp holes, with long grass, bushes, and 

 vines, from which rose several tall trees of those 

 species that spring in swamps and savannahs, and at its 

 upper end there grew a close thicket of black jack trees. 



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