io6 Deer of the River Bottoms. 



often doubling back on his trail and sneaking off to one 

 side as his pursuer passed by. Finally it grew too dark 

 to see the tracks any longer, and Ferris came home. 



Next morning early we went out to where he had left 

 the trail, feeling very sure from his description of the place 

 (which was less than a mile from the house) that we 

 would get the buck ; for when he had abandoned the pur- 

 suit the deer was in a copse of bushes and young trees 

 some hundreds of yards across, and in this it had doubt- 

 less spent the night, for it was extremely unlikely that, 

 wounded and tired as it was, it would go any distance 

 after finding that it was no longer pursued. 



When we got to the thicket we first made a circuit 

 round it to see if the wounded animal had broken cover, 

 but though there were fresh deer tracks leading both in 

 and out of it, none of them were made by a cripple ; 

 so we knew he was still within. It would seem to be 

 a very easy task to track up and kill a broken-legged 

 buck in light snow ; but we had to go very cautiously, 

 for though with only three legs he could still run a good 

 deal faster than either of us on two, and we were anxious 

 not to alarm him and give him a good start. Then 

 there were several well-beaten cattle trails through the 

 thicket, and in addition to that one or two other deer 

 had been walking to and fro within it ; so that it was 

 hard work to follow the tracks. After working some 

 little time we hit on the right trail, finding where the 

 buck had turned into the thickest growth. While Ferris 

 followed carefully in on the tracks, I stationed myself 

 farther on toward the outside, knowing that the buck 



