JACK-SHOOTING IN A FOGGY NIGHT. 187 



a heap, was about to aliglit upon his back. He 

 missed the back, but, as good hick would have it, 

 3ven while the buck ^^'as in the air, — the deer 

 going up as Martin came down, — the fingers of 

 the guide closed with a full and desperate grip 

 upon his tail. Quick as a flash I recovered myself 

 from the bogs, replaced the jack, which fortu- 

 nately had not been extinguished, upon my head, 

 and stood an interested spectator of the proceed- 

 ings. Now everybody knows how a wild deer 

 can jump when frightened; and the buck, with 

 Martin fastened to his tail, was thoroughly 

 roused. The first leap straightened the poor fellow 

 out like a lathe, but it did not shake him from his 

 hold. If the reader has ever seen a small boy 

 hanging to the tail-board of a wagon, when the 

 horse was at full speed, he can form a faint idea 

 of Martin's appearance as the deer tore like a 

 whirlwind through the tall grass. Blinded and 

 bewildered by the light, frenzied with fear, the 

 buck, as deer often will, instead of leading off, 

 kept racing up and down just within the border 

 of light made by the jack, and occasionally mak- 

 ing a bolt directly for it. My position was 

 unique. I was the sole spectator of a series of 

 gymnastic evolutions truly original. Small as the 

 audience was, the performers were thoroughly in 

 earnest. Had there been ten thousand spectators, 

 Uie actors could not have laid themselves out with 



