190 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



along, revealed the state of his pent-up feelings. 

 Past me the deer flashed like a feathered shaft, 

 heading directly for the bank. " Hang on, Martin ! " 

 I screamed, sobered by the thought that he would 

 save him yet if he could only retain his grip, — 

 " hang to him like death ! " He did. Never did my 

 admiration go out more strongly toward a man than 

 it did toward Martin, as, red in the face and un- 

 able to relieve himself by a single expression, he 

 went tearing along at a frightful rate in full bolt 

 for the river. Not one man in fifty could have 

 kept his single-handed grip, jerked, at the close 

 of such a struggle as the Saranacer had passed 

 through, and twitched mercilessly as he now was 

 being through the tall bog-grass and over the un- 

 even ground. But the guide's blood was up, and 

 nothing could loosen his clutch. The buck reached 

 the bank, and, gathering himself up for a desper- 

 ate leap, he flung his body into the air. I saw a 

 pair of widely separated legs swing wildly up- 

 ward, and the red face of Martin, head downward, 

 and reversed, so as to be turned directly toward me 

 by the summersault he was turning, disappeared 

 like a waning rocket in the fog overhanging the 

 river. Once in the water, the buck was no match 

 for his foe. I hurried to the edge of the bank. 

 Beneath me, and half across the river, a desperate 

 struggle was going on. Martin had found his voice, 

 and was using it as if to make up for lost time. In 

 a moment a gurgling sound reached my ears, and 



