A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. 127 



but if you must go below the surface, a shotted leader 

 is the best thing to use. 



Our camp fire at night served more purposes than 

 one ; from its embers and flickering shadows, Uncle 

 Nathan read us many a tale of his life in the woods. 

 They were the same old hunter's stories, except that 

 they evidently had the merit of being strictly true, 

 and hence were not very thrilling or marvelous. 

 Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone down 

 and belittle his experiences than to exaggerate them. 

 If he ever bragged at all (and I suspect he did just 

 a little, when telling us how he outshot one of the 

 famous riflemen of the American team, whom he was 

 guiding through these woods), he did it in such a sly, 

 roundabout way that it was hard to catch him at it. 

 His passage with the rifleman referred to shows the 

 difference between the practical off-hand skill of the 

 hunter in the woods and the science of the long-range 

 target hitter. Mr. Bull's Eye had heard that his guide 

 was a capital shot and had seen some proof of it, and 

 hence could not rest till he had had a trial of skill 

 with him. Uncle Nathan, being the challenged party, 

 had the right to name the distance and the condi- 

 tions. A piece of white paper the size of a silver dollar 

 was put upon a tree twelve rods off, the contestants 

 to fire three shots each offhand. Uncle Nathan's 

 first bullet barely missed the mark, but the other two 

 were planted well into it. Then the great rifleman 

 took his turn, and missed every time. 



" By hemp ! " said Uncle Nathan, " I was sorry I 



