A FAIR SHOT AND A MISS. 207 



will take the place of ancient forests ; and educated, intel- 

 lectual, cultivated miuds take the place of the rude, un- 

 taught, and unteachable men and women of the woods. 



As we re-entered the lake, we saw a noble buck feeding 

 along the shore, a short distance from us. We dropped be- 

 hind a point of willows, from the outer edge of which we 

 would be in shooting distance. We paddled silently round 

 the point, and there, within fifteen rods of us, he stood, broad 

 side to us, presenting as beautiful a mark as a man could 

 wish. I counted him certainly ours, when I drew upon him 

 with my rule. Well I blazed away, and as I did so, he 

 raised his head suddenly, gazed in astonishment at us for a 

 moment, with his ears thrown forward, and in an attitude 

 of wildness, and then dashed madly away into the forest, 

 snorting like a war-horse at every bound. I had not touched 

 him, and I knew it the moment I fired. Our little boat was 

 light and totlish, and just as I pressed the trigger, it rolled 

 slightly on the water and my ball passed over, but mighty 

 close to the back of that deer. I was mortified enough at 

 this mishap, for I prided myself on my coolness and marks- 

 manship, and here was a failure apparently more inexcus- 

 able than any that had occurred. But there was no help 

 for it. The deer was gone, and Spalding and the boatman 

 indulged in a hearty laugh at my expense. 



Some half a mile up the lake, we saw a great turtle 

 sunning himself on a rock which was partly out of water. 

 He was twice as large as any of the fresh-water kind I had 

 ever seen. His shell was all of two feet in diameter, and 



