144 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



head high in the air with each grand effort, but the guides 

 are pulling stronger than before on their paddles. They 

 seem, when viewed from my position, to be only a few rods 

 in the rear of the animal, but the deer is heading for the 

 shore and seems about ready to bound into the forest. It 

 is now evident to me that the chase can only last a few 

 seconds. / sprang from my seat ; I recalled the fact that 

 the guides have no gun in the boat ; I realize that if they 

 had one they could now easily kill the animal ; they are 

 almost on it. An instant later and the canoe is seen between 

 the deer and the shore; a loud shout is heard from the 

 guides; they wave their hats ; they are victorious, and the 

 disappointed deer now turns and swims towards the middle 

 of the lake. Its grandest effort has been made ; fatigue and 

 disappointment slow down its movements. It was now an 

 easy task for the guides to direct the animal to any point 

 on the lake. The canoe was kept in the rear, and when 

 it was brought forward towards the right of the deer, it 

 would cause the animal to oblique to the left, and vice versa. 

 In this manner they proceeded to cross the lake, bringing 

 the doe in front of the rock on which I was seated ; but 

 while she was still about six hundred yards away they 

 called on me to take a shot. I demurred against their 

 request, inasmuch as the portion of the animal now visible 

 did not much exceed the dimensions of a pint cup. The 

 first ball fired fell short about fifty yards, and then rico- 

 chetted nearly across the lake. Another shot was fired 

 with no better result, and thus I continued for several 

 minutes, but not without making some improvement. The 

 shots were pronounced by the guides to be accurate, so far 



