POKE EECEIVES A CUll'oSITY AND TELLS A YARN. 351 



" Deer," responded Hank, in a whisper, swinging 

 ivound the canoe so that, .as the light moved, against the 

 tvoods, the. motion of the boat brought forth two or 

 three more sneezes, and then we heard a heavy crashing 

 through the bushes as the deer dashed up the hill, 

 awakening the echoes with his nose, more terrifying than 

 Bardolph's fiery beak to all the bottom land ; for imme- 

 diately, from the other side of the brook, another great 

 buck took up the cry,and rushed up the hill to the summit, 

 where he stood some minutes, stamping the ground and 

 startling the darkness with that most singular of 

 alarums. 



" Two big bucks," said Hank. " There be'ent much 

 good huntin' here any longer ; we've got back to the 

 lakes agin, and them bucks has called off all the others.'* 



" But it won't do to give it up so, Hank ; we must have 

 a deer, or we won't go home till morning. Think of the 

 hungry mouths in camp." 



"Wall, I suppose we can try them sand-beaches 

 round on the south shore. I kinder think the bucks 

 fodder on the sand beaches more'n on lily pads this time 



o' year." 



/ 



So around we went, glaring our Cyclopean eye over 

 the open lake, and causing the loons to laugh like moii- 

 keys. One or two islands stand out in the open water 

 where the brook makes in, and we passed around their 

 jutting rocks to the southern shore. The water b#gan 

 to shoal, and I could see the white sand on the bottom, 

 from which here and there the osiers reared their taper 



