246 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



man, ere lie may hope for the least success in attempting it un- 

 aided ; and for a long time he must be content with following 

 silently in the wake of his skilful guide, straining his every fa- 

 culty to distinguish the signs which he literally reads as he runs, 

 and must be satisfied at first to be told and taught, liy slow de- 

 grees, the various symptoms by which he shall one day uner- 

 ringly jjronounce on the size, the sex, the weight, the rate of 

 progress of the animal ; and last, not least, of the length of 

 time which has elapsed since the impress of the track, which 

 alone can guide him on the soft forest soil, or in the streamlet's 

 bed. 



For a long time, it shall appear mai-vellous to him, indeed, 

 when, after winding to and fro, perhaps for an hour or two, 

 among the monstrous stems of the tall timber trees, or through 

 the deep alder brakes, or upland tracts of dwarf pine, he is told 

 in a guarded whisper to make his rifle ready, and crawl warily 

 over the brow of this hillock, or to the brink of that dell, — for, 

 sure enough, the Deer are at hand ; and, still more marvellous, 

 when he is set within twenty or thirty yards of the unsuspecting 

 quarry, and bade to take his time and make sure ; and yet mosf. 

 rapturous of all, the moment, when the quick rifle cracks, and 

 the stricken hart bounds aloft, death- wounded, and falls headlong. 



Yet all this thou, too, mayest attain, mine adventurous reader, 

 if thou wilt take patience to be thy rule of conduct, and a wise 

 woodman to be thy guide, and wilt eschew soft sleeping and 

 high feeding for a time, and exchange city luxuries for forest 

 fare, and model thyself after the fashion of a man, not of a Man- 

 talini ! Success and speed to thee, if thou assay it ; and of this 

 be sure, that thou wilt not rue the adventure, either for the 

 manhood thou shalt gain, or the fun thou wilt find in gaining it. 



In order, however, to enjoy Deer-hunting in anything like 

 perfection — for, after all, here, to the Northward, it is practised 

 ninety-nine times out of a hundred, as it is in th-e West — I had 

 almost said altogether — as a means of obtaining venison, and not 

 for sport's sake — we must go into Virginia, into the Carolinas, 

 Louisiana and Mississippi. There we find the gentlemen of the 



