36 The Wilderness Hunter. 



later we came on two bucks sunning themselves in the 

 bottom of a valley. My companion killed one. The 

 other was lying but a dozen rods off; yet it never moved, 

 until several shots had been fired at the first. It was 

 directly under me and in my anxiety to avoid overshoot- 

 ing, to my horror I committed the opposite fault, and 

 away went the buck. 



Every now and then any one will make most unaccount- 

 able misses. A few days after thus losing the buck I 

 spent nearly twenty cartridges in butchering an unfortu- 

 nate yearling, and only killed it at all because it became 

 so bewildered by the firing that it hardly tried to escape. 

 I never could tell why I used so many cartridges to such 

 little purpose. During the next fortnight I killed seven 

 deer without making a single miss, though some of the 

 shots were rather difficult. 



