142 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



of horsemanship. Every one understood that the 

 deer was trying to reach the other end of the forest, 

 and the proper plan to prevent him from effecting 

 his object was by getting before him, so as to bar 

 his way. In front of all was a hunter who galloped 

 on with a rapidity which none of us could equal. I 

 saw him take aim and fire, but the deer was not 

 touched. He merely gave a bound and resumed his 

 com"se towards the forest, the explosion only making 

 him go quicker. There was another chance for the 

 hunter, and that was to drive him towards a hollow 

 which it was impossible to leap. He determined on 

 this, for we saw him put spurs to his horse and 

 gallop on towards the margin of the wood ; but 

 he reached it only at the moment when the deer 

 crossed his path, about a hundred yards ahead. 

 We lost sight of both hunter and deer, and then the 

 sound of a shot awoke the echoes. We all rushed 

 on as if to see who should be first, and when we 

 got to our friend a sad spectacle met our eyes. 

 Before us was the poor horse in the agonies of 

 death, and a few yards off the deer belling forth its 

 last agony. 



How could this have happened ? In the heat of 

 the chase, the hunter had tried to leap over a dwarf 

 pine, behind which was the trunk of an old tree 

 sticking up like a spear, and the unhappy horse, 

 falling upon this, had impaled itself. The hunter 

 had been thrown off a short distance, without being 



