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beaten cedars, often gathered into groves of 

 some size. The ground was so broken as to 

 give excellent cover under which a man could 

 approach game unseen > there were plenty of 

 fresh signs of deer; and we were confident 

 we should soon get a shot Keeping at the 

 bottom of the gullies, so as to be ourselves 

 inconspicuous, we walked noiselessly on, 

 cautiously examining every pocket or turn 

 before we rounded the corner, and looking 

 with special care along the edges of the 

 patches of brush. 



At last, just as the sun had risen, we came 

 out by the mouth of a deep ravine or hol- 

 low, cut in the flank of the plateau, 

 steep, cedar-clad sides; and on the crest of 

 a jutting spur, not more than thirty yards 

 from where I stood, was a black-tail doe, 

 half facing me. I was in the shadow, and 

 for a moment she could not make me out, 

 and stood motionless with her head turned 

 toward me and her great ears thrown for- 

 ward. Dropping on my knee, I held the rifle 

 a little back of her shoulder too far back, 



