170 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



proposition gave me of "drawing it fine" on a 

 deer's head once mbre. 



So it was settled that we should go jack-shoot- 

 ing up Marion Eiver ; and, after a few minutes of 

 further conversation as to our outfit, Martin left 

 to prepare his boat. I proceeded to discharge my 

 rifle, Avhich w^as loaded with conical balls, in order 

 to recharge with round ones, which are far better 

 for short range and night work. 



Perhaps, as a matter of interest to sportsmen, 

 and for the information of the uninitiated reader, 

 I should pause a moment in my narration to 

 describe, not only "jack-shooting," but also "my 

 jack." 



Be it known to all, then, that a deer is a very 

 inquisitive as well as a timid animal. His curi- 

 osity is generally greater than his timidity, and at 

 the sight of anything new or strange he is im- 

 pelled by this feeling to inspect it. Hence it is 

 that, instead of flying from a blazing torch or 

 lighted candle at night, he is more apt to stand 

 stock still and gaze at it. Hunters avail them- 

 selves of this peculiarity, and hunt them by torch- 

 light in the night-time. Ordinarily speaking, 

 they take a piece of bark some tv/o feet long by 

 ten inches wide, and, bending it into the shape of 

 a half-moon, tack it to a top and bottom board of 

 the same shape. Into this box of bark, shaped 

 like an old-fashioned half-moon lantern, they in- 



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