' ' THE HANDKERCHIEF. " — " JACKING. " 3.53 



water beaten almost to a foam. 'It happened to strike 

 me as exceedingly comical ; but although nearly ready to 

 explode with laughter, I pulled the trigger. An awful 

 roar, as of a park of artillery, burst and rolled down the 

 river and over the forest, shattering the impressive stillness 

 of the night into a thousand echoes. The roar was follow- 

 ed b}'^ a silence almost as awful. When everj'thing was 

 hushed again, we listened. The crashing through the 

 trees told of the tlight of our game, but it might be wound- 

 ed ; then the noise ceased, in a moment the deer .stamped 

 like a sheep and " whistled," and fled away to the moun- 

 tains. 



Re-loading the gun and lighting and adjusting on my 

 head the " jack" that we had borrowed of our prospective 

 hosts, we again silently went on down the windings of the 

 forest-lined or alder-fringed river as before, peering around 

 ever}' point and into ever}' nook and cove, but seeing noth- 

 ing. Once, we heard a light rustle and delicate footsteps 

 near the river bank, but the thick alders effectually con- 

 cealed the wary deer, — he stopped, we stopped, each listened 

 for the other, and then he stealthily crept away. Still we 

 threw the light along the banks on our silent way, search- 

 ing for the two "glol)es of fire," but saw them not. 



At length, at nearly fen o'clock, dreadfully tired and 

 hungry, we reached the camp of our new friends, ate a 

 sunii)tu()us supper provided from their ample supplies and 

 my basket of trout, and then rolling up in my l)lanket under 

 the bark-roof, while the hre at my feet blazed brightly, I 

 went to sleep forthwith. 



