SHOOTING BY TURNS. 127 



with accelerated speed, and a louder whistle, and went 

 crashing up the hill-side. Smith acknowledged to a severe 

 attack of the Buck fever. It was now my turn to take the 

 next shot; and changing places with Smith, we went ahead. 

 In ten minutes a chance to try my skill occurred. But it 

 was a long shot, the game was " on the wing," and I had no 

 better success than did my friend. The deer only increased 

 the length of his bounds, and he too went plrnging through 

 the old woods, snorting in astonishment, and huge affright 

 at what ife had seen and heard. 



Our boat now fell back, and Spalding and the Doctor took 

 the lead. In a short time, a deer was discovered feeding 

 just ahead of us on the lily pads along the shore. The 

 boatman paddled silently up to within eight or ten rods of 

 him. Spalding sighted him long and, as he averred, care- 

 fully with his rifle. The deer fed and fed on, and we waited 

 anxiously to hear the crack of the rifle, and see the deer go 

 down ; but still the boat glided on unnoticed by the animal 

 that was feeding in unsuspecting security. At length he raised 

 his head, threw forward his long ears, gazed for a second 

 intently at his enemies, and then appreciating his danger, 

 snorted like a warhorse and plunged in a seeming despera- 

 tion of terror towards the shore. He had ran a few rods 

 when Spalding let drive at him, as he confessed, at random. 

 The ball went wide of the mark, and the game dashed, with 

 more desperate energy, and whistling and snorting like a 

 locomotive, into the brush that lined the banks. It was 

 Spalding's third shot in all his life at a deer, and he insisted, 



