60 JOCK'S LAKE. 



" So much the better," replied Benson. " You can ne\ IT 

 ' jack' a deer in a bright night, and this sultry air makes 

 the flies bite, and a deer's sure to go for the water when tin- 

 flies pester him as they will to-night. Hurry up. Horace. 

 with the ' jack ' " , 



Horace had prepared the ' jack-light, ' which wa> simply 

 apiece of bark nailed upright on the semicircular edge of 

 a bit of board so as to form a rude reflector, within which 

 was placed a short candle, the whole supported by a -lick 

 thrust through a hole in the front x-at of Hie boat. 



Benson finished loading both barrels of his hea\ \ shoi 

 gun with buck-shot, examined everything to see that there 

 should be no accident in the darknes-.. or mis-tire at the 

 critical moment. Then the Iwo went down to the landing, 

 and we heard the mu tried gratingof the boat as they pushed 

 off from the rocks and disappeared from >ound and -i-hi 

 down the lake. They wen to land at the foot of the lake 

 and then clamber and scramble as be-i they could, in the 

 darkness, down through the pathle-.> woods to "the fly." 

 where a water soaked, half rotten, leaky scow awaited 

 them. In thai unreliable craft, at the uncanny hour of 

 midnight, they were to light up the "jack. " and "float" 

 for deer. Horace was to paddle as silently as a snake 

 glides over the grass; the " jack " was to throw its light in 

 front, leaving the boat and its occupants in the shade; the 

 hunter was to sit close behind the jack-staff, gun in hand, 

 ready in an instant to shoot at the "two globes of lire" 

 which the eyes of the deer would resemble when staring, 

 confounded at the light, or to shoot at his body if luckily 

 that should be brought into relief. 



