The Champion 'Coon Hunter's Story 171 



ash swamp an' it was a mighty slippery log, too, 

 for it had been rainin' an' the bark was off the 

 fallen tree I was on. I heard a slight noise off 

 behind me and lookin' over my shoulder I saw the 

 head of a big buck. It was lookin' right in my 

 direction. If I made a move I knew it would 

 vamoose and as I was tired with the long tramp 

 through the woods, I did not feel like folio win' far. 



THE LOG WAS SLIPPEEY 



** There I was, mind you, on a slippery log, with 

 my back to a big buck and afraid to move for fear 

 he'd give me the slip. I just slowly swung that 

 old smoothbore rifle around till it was almost point- 

 in' over my shoulder. I was young then and my 

 joints worked easy, that was how I twisted my neck 

 enough to look back along that rifle barrel. But 

 I did it and just when the sights lined up between 

 the two eyes of that buck, that was when I pulled. 

 0' course, he went down in a heap and my feet 

 slipped on the log just at the same moment and 

 when I came to, like Dr. Foster as went to Glouces- 

 ter in the nursery book, I was wet up to the 

 middle. ' ' 



Pretty good shot, it certainly was, some one 

 interposed. 



'■ * That was the first and only time I ever shot a 

 deer over my own shoulder and I can't call to mind 

 that I ever heard tell of anybody else doin' such 

 a thing. I've heard o' desperadoes out West shoot- 



