The Black-Tail Deer. 169 



valley ; but as it was so uncertain, we thought it would 

 pay us best to look for a new deer. 



Our luck, however, seemed very deservedly to have 

 ended. We tramped on, as swiftly as was compatible 

 with quiet, for hour after hour ; beating through the 

 valleys against the wind, and crossing the brushy heads 

 of the ravines, sometimes close together, and sometimes 

 keeping about a hundred yards apart, according to the 

 nature of the ground. When we had searched all through 

 the country round the head of the creek, into which we 

 had come down, we walked over to the next, and went 

 over it with equal care and patience. The morning 

 was now well advanced, and we had to change our 

 method of hunting. It was no longer likely that we 

 should find the deer feeding or in the open, and instead 

 we looked for places where they might be expected to 

 bed, following any trails that led into thick patches of 

 brush or young trees, one of us then hunting through 

 the patch while the other kept watch without. Doubtless 

 we must have passed close to more than one deer, and 

 doubtless others heard us and skulked off through the 

 thick cover ; but, although we saw plenty of signs, we 

 saw neither hoof nor hair of living thing. It is under 

 such circumstances that a still-hunter needs to show reso- 

 lution, and to persevere until his luck turns this being a 

 euphemistic way of saying, until he ceases to commit the 

 various blunders which alarm the deer and make them 

 get out of the way. Plenty of good shots become dis- 

 gusted if they do not see a deer early in the morning, 

 and go home ; still more, if they do not see one in two or 



