OF A RANCHMAN 



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pools should be visited, and the borders as 

 far back as possible carefully examined, for 

 any deer that come to drink, and the glades 

 should be searched through for any that 

 may be feeding. In the soft mud, too, a 

 fresh track can be followed as readily as if 

 in snow, and without exposing the hunter 

 to such probability of detection. If a shot 

 is obtained at all, it is at such close quarters 

 as to more than counterbalance the dimness 

 of the light, and to render the chance of a 

 miss very unlikely. Such hunting is for a 

 change very pleasant, the perfect stillness 

 of the place, the quiet with which one has 

 to move, and the constant expectation of 

 seeing game keeping one's nerves always on 

 the stretch ; but after a while it grows tedi- 

 ous, and it makes a man feel cramped to be 

 always ducking and crawling through such 

 places. It is not to be compared, in cool 

 weather, with still-hunting on the open 

 hills ; nevertheless, in the furious heat of the 

 summer sun it has its advantages, for it is 

 not often so oppressingly hot in the swamp 



