THE FIND. 311 



just as I caught a scarcely sure glimpse of her again, O 

 ye fiends of the Hartz mountains ! a dell in the ground 

 enabled the doe to plunge out of" sight and I could not 

 fire. Hound and deer then took a narrow ring, when, 

 strange to say, precisely the same thing happened to Bay 

 ard ; the deer carne within ten yards of him, and again 

 baulked the shot by suddenly bounding down a hollow 

 in the cover. ' The scent was very bad, as I suspect 

 it always is there in dry weather, from the immense 

 accumulation of withered leaves and the quantity of 

 dust driven in by the winds, both burnt from the 

 prairie fires, and natural, from the lightness of the 

 surface soil itself. What became of that doe, or how 

 Druid lost her, I am unable to say ; it was just as if 

 she had sunk into the ground, and no cast that I could 

 make or the hound in his sagacity imagine recovered 

 her line again. 



We then drew over a considerable line of woodland 

 without a second find, though there were stale traces 

 of deer, and returned disappointed to the Fort. The 

 time then came when I was to bid adieu to so much that 

 was graceful and high-toned ; and, full of regret at 

 parting with such agreeable friends, I gave order to 

 Mr Canterall to prepare for a start towards St Joseph, 

 instead of returning by Kansas city, which order seemed 

 to fill the recipient of it with the deepest dissatisfac 

 tion. During the wet days, since our return to the Fort, 

 when we could not hunt, I had had Mr Canterall up 

 with two of his men to work, under my immediate 

 supervision, at the buffalo robes, which he had miser 

 ably neglected, and every hour made me more dissatis 

 fied with his conduct. All being then packed up, with 



