THE WAYS OF SPORTSMEN 281 



his mind to travel no farther, but to face his ene- 

 mies and have it out with them. As he heard them 

 approach, he rose up from his couch of snow, mane 

 erect, his look fierce and determined. Poor crea- 

 ture, he did not know how unequal the contest was. 

 How I wish he could at that moment have had a 

 Winchester rifle, too, and had known how to use it. 

 There would have been fair play then. With such 

 weapons as God had given him he had determined 

 to meet the foe, and if they had had only such wea- 

 pons as God had given them, he would have been 

 safe. But they had weapons which the devil had 

 given them, and their deadly bullets soon cut him 

 down, and now probably his noble antlers decorate 

 the hall of his murderer. 



