THE NEW ENGLAND SCHOOLMASTEE. 87 



any fool with a grain of sense, except myself, might have 

 known with half an eye that he was something out of the 

 ordinary line never killed anything, so the duty of 

 supporting two mouths instead of one, devolved upon me ; 

 so from soon after sunrise to sundown I was invariably 

 from camp, leaving my new associate to the bent of his 

 fancies, provided he looked after the horses, and kept 

 sufficient firewood for the coming night's consumption. 

 The day had been dark and gloomy ; the season, Indian 

 summer ; the hour, as far as I judged, three in the after- 

 noon, when to my surprise, I heard the 4 report of a gun in 

 the direction of camp. As the schoolmaster, from want of 

 success, had almost given up the use of his gun, the 

 report struck me as ominous of evil, so I hurried rapidly 

 forward to discover what could have induced him to shoot, 

 nor was I long kept in suspense, for in an opening, a few 

 yards in front, I saw a fine stag Wapitti engaged in a 

 determined battle with my comrade. The deer was en 

 three legs, one of the fore ones being smashed below the 

 knee, while my companion with his gun clubbed carefully 

 watched his assailant. Fortunately for the schoolmaster, 

 the stag's agility was seriously impeded by the shattered 

 limb, or the contest would have been ere this finished ; as 

 it was, he had to display his activity, and rivalled in it 

 any French dancing-master I had ever met. But for the 

 rapid evolutions of assailed and assailant, I could have 

 easily killed the deer, but twice as I was about to press 

 the trigger, the wrong object was in the line of fire. The 

 position of this eccentric man was not without danger, yet 

 when I approached the combatants to give him assistance , 



