74 PERILS OF AN HUNTER. 



tion for some hours, till wearied with watching to 

 no purpose, he resolved to proceed into the woods 

 which skirted the upper portion of the clearing. 

 Onwards he went, and shortly came upon the body 

 of a large deer, which evidently had been just killed 

 by some ferocious animal. Its death- wound was not 

 the deed of man, nor had it been run down by the 

 dogs of any of the neighbouring hunters; or else their 

 voices would have echoed from rock to rock, and 

 from hill to hill. Carefully did the hunter then 

 proceed, for there was danger in his path; he ex- 

 amined the various tracks, and looked anxiously 

 both far and near, but he could discover no indica- 

 tion of any living creature, and the surrounding 

 forest was as silent as the tomb. Considering the 

 deer, therefore, as his lawful prey, he seized him by 

 his noble antlers, and was proceeding to drag him 

 toward the cleared ground, a little further down the 

 valley ; when, stopping to rest for a few moments, 

 and looking accidentally behind him, he beheld, to 

 his great dismay, an enormous Puma advancing 

 slowly upon his track. The hunter moved forward, 

 and then looked back again to observe the inten- 

 tions of his pursuer, (whose movements seemed re- 

 gulated in great measure by his own,) for it is not 

 safe to fly at the first glance, or to seem dismaj-ed, 

 when a beast of prey approaches. But still the 

 Puma advanced in the track, and when the hunter 

 quickened his pace, he also did the same. Judging 

 it, therefore, prudent to abandon the object of con- 

 tention, and, never suspecting for a moment that he 

 had any wish but to regain his lawful prize, the 

 hunter proceeded calmly on his way. But great 



