EARLY EXPERIENCES. 25 



old, they would not allow me to have the gun, so I was obliged 

 to steal it out when no one was in sight, carry it to the barn and 

 then watch my opportunity and "skipper" from the barn to the 

 lick. All worked smoothly and I got to the lick all right. It was 

 toward sundown and I had scarcely poked the gun through the 

 hole in the blind and looked out when I saw two or three deer 

 coming toward the lick. I cocked the old gun and made ready 

 but about this time I was taken with the worst chill that any boy 

 ever had and I shook so that I could scarcely hold the gun to 

 the peep hole. It was only a moment when two of the deer stepped 

 into the lick, and I took the best aim I could under the condition, 

 and pulled the trigger. Well of all the bawling a deer ever made, 

 I think this one did the worst, but I did not stop to see what I 

 had done but took across the field to the house at a lively gait, 

 leaving the gun in the blind. 



The folks heard the shot and saw me running for the house 

 at break-neck speed (this of course was the first that they knew 

 I was out with the gun). My older brother came to meet me and 

 see what the trouble was. When I told him what I had done, he 

 went with me to the lick and there we found a fair-sized buck 

 wallowing in the lick with his back broken, one buck shot (or 

 rather one slug, for the gun was loaded with pieces cut from a 

 bar of lead) ; one slug had struck and broken the spine and this 

 was the cause of the deer bawling so loud as this was the only 

 one that hit. 



The old shotgun was now taken from its usual corner in the 

 kitchen and hung up over the mantle piece above the big fire 

 place and well out of my reach. This did not stop my hunting. 

 We had a neighbor who had two or three guns and he would 

 lend me one of them. I would hide away hen eggs and take them 

 to the grocery and trade them for powder and shot. Of course 

 the man who owned the gun got the game, when I chanced to kill 

 any, for I did not dare to carry it home. It was not long until 

 father found that I was borrowing Mr. Abbott's gun, and he 

 thought that if hunt I would, it would be better that I use our 

 own and then he would know when I was out with it. He took 



