ANTLERED TENANTS OF THE WOODS. 205 



exquisite agility, and the delicacy and symmetry of its 

 form, no other animal approaches it. The eye of the 

 deer is large, and has the softest and most tender expres- 

 sion. 



3. " The fawns, betraying by their spots a former char- 

 acteristic of their species, are timid, pretty little things,, 

 They do not seem to have the instinct which leads the adult 

 animal to the water when pursued, and consequently, when 

 the dog gets on the scent of a fawn, he will hunt it boot- 

 lessly for hours, to the great annoyance of his master. A 

 young fawn, just born, knows no fear of man. If picked 

 up, fondled for a few minutes, and carried a little dis- 

 tance, it will, when put down, follow one just as it would 

 its mother. 



4. " A tremendous uproar awoke me at the moment 

 when, for the hundredth time, my rifle had exasperated me. 



It was Mr. B shouting : < Breakfast ! breakfast 1 Turn 



out for breakfast ! The captain's up and waiting ! ' It 

 was half-past four, and everybody woke up at the sum- 

 mons, as was, indeed, unavoidable. Down-stairs there 

 was a prodigious sizzling and sputtering going on. and 

 the light through the floor betrayed Mrs. Brumfield and 

 her frying-pans and coffee-pot, all in full blast. We were 

 all down-stairs in a few minutes and outside making a 

 rudimentary toilet with ice-water and a bar of soap. 

 Breakfast was ready plenty of rashers of bacon, fried 

 and boiled potatoes, fried onions, bread and butter, and 

 coffee, hot and strong. 



5. " These were speedily disposed of. Cc its were 

 buttoned up, rubber blankets and ammunition-belts slung 

 over shoulders, cartridge magazines filled, hatchets stuck 

 into belts, rifles shouldered, and out we sallied into the 

 darkness, through which the faintest glimmer of gray was 

 just showing in the east. After a couple of hundred 



