66 WARWICK WOODLANDS. 



by tne yell of Lyn and the loud clamor of his fresh foes, the 

 first buck I had seen in America, and the largest I had seen 

 any where, clashed at a single plunge into the round, clearing 

 the green head of a fallen hemlock, apparently without an 

 effort, his splendid antlers laid back on his neck, and his white 

 flag lushing his fair round haunch as the fleet bitches Bonny 

 Belle and Blossom yelled with their shrill fierce trebles close 

 behind him. 



Seeing that it was useless to persist in my endeavor to extri- 

 cate my gun, and satisfied that the matter was in good hands, 

 I was content to look on, an inactive but most eager witness. 



Tom, who from his position at the head of the off horse, 

 commanded the first view of the splendid creature, pitched his 

 gun to his shoulder hastily and fired ; the smoke drifted across 

 my face, but through its vapory folds I could distinguish the 

 dim figure of the noble hart still bounding unhurt onward ; 

 but, before the first echo of the round ringing report of Tom's 

 shot-gun reached my ear, the sharp flat crack of Harry's rifle 

 followed it, and at the self-same instant the buck sprang six 

 feet into the air, and pitched head foremost on the ground ; it 

 was but for a moment, however, for with the speed of light he 

 struggled to his feet, and though sore wounded, was yet toiling 

 onward when the two English foxhounds dashed at his throat 

 and pulled him down again. 



" Eun in, Tom, run in ! quick," shouted Harry, " he's not 

 clean killed, and may gore the dogs sadly !" 



" I've got no knife," responded Tom, but dauntlessly he 

 dashed in, all the same, to the rescue of the bitches which I 

 believe he loved almost as well as his own children and though, 

 encumbered by his ponderous white top-coat, not to say by his 

 two hundred and fifty weight of solid flesh, seized the fierce 

 animal by the brow-antlers, and bore him to the ground, before 

 Harry, who had leaped out of the wagon, with his first words, 

 could reach him. 



The next moment the keen short hunting knife, without 

 which Archer never takes the field, had severed at a single 

 stroke the weasand of the gallant brute ; the black blood 

 streamed out on the smoking hoar-frost, the full eyes glazed, 

 and, after one sharp fluttering struggle, the life departed from 

 those graceful limbs, which had been but a few short instants 

 previous so full of glorious energy of fiery vigor. 



" Well, that's the strangest thing I ever heard of, let alone 



