262 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



was at this moment only a short distance from the shore. 

 Instantly her head was turned towards the land, and here 

 followed the desperate efforts to make her escape, but it 

 is an old story and I shall not now repeat it. The captain 

 redoubled his efforts with the paddle, and "Tom" followed 

 his example. The deer having reached a spot where she 

 was not more than forty yards from the dry land, the 

 captain quickly dropped the paddle and seized a Win- 

 chester repeating-rifle, which was lying in the bottom of 

 his canoe, and began a lively fusillade, which was directed 

 at the poor animal's head, although he was at this moment 

 about three hundred yards from the object which he sought 

 to pierce with the leaden bullet. "Tom" now brought our 

 canoe within a range of about five hundred yards, when I 

 raised my rifle and joined in the music. " Tom" continued 

 to push forward his little bark without the slightest in- 

 terruption, while the captain was floating slowly forward. 

 Bang! bang! bang! go the rifles; the balls are skipping 

 over the water in close proximity to the exposed head, 

 while the animal is making the most frantic efforts to 

 escape. She is now almost ready to leap from the water, 

 but the captain is waiting for the favorable moment to send 

 a bullet into her body. She has risen, when the crack of 

 the captain's rifle is heard, and she falls back into the water 

 again. Is she dead ? No. In another instant she is again 

 on her feet, and after taking three bounds she is covered 

 by the friendly darkness of the forest. We now pushed 

 forward to the spot where she had left the lake. Here we 

 beheld her blood mingling with the water, and this confirmed 

 the opinion which we had previously formed, that she had 



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