THE WOLF HUNTERS 



world did you happen to kill a buck? I didn't 

 think you were hunter enough to stalk a deer." 



"You don't appear to know me, young fellow," 

 he returned with a swaggering air. "It's a mighty 

 hunter I'm getting to be, as well as a famous 

 trapper." 



"But tell us all about how you got that buck; I 

 know there's something to explain about it," I 

 replied. 



"Well, now," laying aside his assumed bragga- 

 docio and becoming the candid Irishman again, 

 "to tell you the honest God's truth, I just blun- 

 dered onto him. It was this way: I was a-sneak- 

 ing along through the timber when all of a suddent 

 I sees this laddybuck a-standing broadside to me, 

 only about twenty steps away, an' he hadn't seen 

 nor heard me, for I was behind a big tree. I was 

 that nervous I didn't think I could have hit the 

 side of a barn, so I rested my carbine against the 

 side of the tree, took as good aim as I could about 

 where I thought his heart ought to be — right be- 

 hind the fore shoulder — an' let him have it; an' 

 I'm blest if I didn't fetch him, first pop. He gave 

 one big bound into the air an' fell dead; an' just 

 then two does, that had been laying down behind 

 some bushes, jumped an' run an' were out of 

 sight in a jiffy, before I could shove another car- 

 tridge into me carbine. But I didn't want any 

 more deer meat just then, so I came back to camp 

 to get the horse to fetch the meat in." 



182 



