OR, THE LAKE LANDS OF CANADA. 191 



Promptly after the second signal was given, in this 

 instance, both George and myself were at the captain's 

 side. He now whispered in my ear, "There stands a fine 

 buck on the next ridge; what shall we do, kill him or 

 not?" Prior to our departure from the old camp this 

 morning I had told the captain that I preferred not to kill 

 game, except one bull moose, the head of which I desired 

 as a souvenir, unless the flesh could be used as food ; 

 hence this conversation, in which the captain urged the 

 slaughter, and I rather reluctantly consented to it. Al- 

 ready the novelty of deer-shooting had worn off with me, 

 having been in the woods now more than a month, and I 

 therefore found myself strongly disinclined to continue the 

 slaughter except to keep up the food-supply. 



The captain's next inquiry was, " Will you take the shot 

 or shall George have it?" My answer was in favor of 

 George, who now dropped quietly on his knee, drew a fine 

 bead on the animal, which was at this moment slowly walk- 

 ing along the ridge, and within a few seconds pulled the 

 trigger which sent the leaden pill from his trusty Winches- 

 ter rifle into the side of the beautiful creature, which had 

 not yet either scented or seen danger. The instant the 

 white puff of smoke was seen to issue from the muzzle of 

 the gun the deer leaped high in the air and bolted forward 

 with the speed of the wind, the motion of the animal being 

 now so rapid as to render his form indistinctly visible, but 

 after thus running about five hundred yards its movements 

 became perceptibly slower, more irregular, and it was evi- 

 dent that the bullet had struck a vital part. A moment 

 later the captain shouted, " He has fallen !" quickly after- 



