OR, THE LAKE LANDS OF CANADA. 



259 



struggles desperately in the water ; raises herself high 

 into the air and then settles down to her grandest efforts 

 in swimming. Both canoes are rapidly closing in upon 

 her ; she has discovered the danger of her situation. The 

 captain's canoe is now within a hundred yards of the 

 frightened deer; but "Tom" is still more than four hun- 

 dred yards away. The boy has raised his gun ; is taking 

 aim. Puff oroes the smoke from the muzzle of his fowline- 

 piece ; the charge of buckshot passed a little above her 

 head and she is unharmed. The boy is now making a 

 desperate effort to remove the empty shell from his single- 

 barrel breech-loading gun. The captain has brought the 

 canoe within sixty yards of the old doe. Behold them ! 

 He has dropped the paddle, taken the gun from the boy's 

 hand, and is now endeavoring to remove the empty shell, 

 which he accomplished after the loss of a few seconds of 

 valuable time. The gun is then handed back to the boy, 

 after having been reloaded, but the distance between the 

 floating canoe and the rapidly-swimming deer has increased 

 during this interval. "Tom," on the contrary, has suc- 

 ceeded in brineinof his canoe within about two hundred 

 yards of the game ; but the deer is now almost ready to 

 leap on the shore. I have seized my repeating Winches- 

 ter rifle and will try a shot at the escaping animal. Two 

 shots are fired in rapid succession : one before she had 

 raised from the water and the other just as she leaped on 

 the dry land, but she has not halted at my command. The 

 captain failed to bring the deer within the range of the 

 boy's gun after it was reloaded. Thus ended a very ex- 

 citing; chase. 



