203 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



heard the baying of the dogs, and listened to it as it died 

 away in the direction of some other runway. But I 

 watched steadily. And as I watched I saw the brush 

 about some cedar-roots open, and out there sprang into 

 the shallow water a noble buck. He was a stalwart, 

 thickset fellow, his legs were short and compact, his fur 

 was dark in its winter hue, and his antlers glistened above 

 his head. He bore himself proudly, as he stood in the 

 water and turned to listen for the bay of the dogs he had 

 outrun. 



10. "I hesitated a moment, doubtful if I should let 

 him go into the stream and swim down, or shoot him as 

 he stood. I chose the latter, aimed quietly and confi- 

 dently, and fired. He pitched forward ; the current seized 

 him, and he floated down with it past me, dead. In eight 



minutes by my watch Mr. M 's " Jack " came to the 



bank, at the spot where the buck had come in, and howled 

 grievously over the lost scent. He was worn out and 

 battered, and he came to me gladly when I called him. 



11. " I had brought some luncheon down with me in 

 the morning, and I must confess that I was weak enough 

 to give Jack every bit of it. That afternoon, when I 

 reached camp, I found that I was the last to come in, and 

 that my buck had already been seen, and his size noted,, 

 I was received with acclamations, and a proposition to 

 gird me, as a measure of affected precaution, with the 

 hoops of a flour-barrel, was made and partly carried into 

 execution. There were sung, moreover, sundry snatches 

 of the foresters' chorus from ' As You Like It ' : 



* What shall he have that killed the deer ? ' " 



12. The elk, or moose, the largest of the deer tribe, is 

 distinguished by its great size, its awkward shape, and its 

 broad, palmated horns. A writer in the magazine above 



