112 A Hunting Trip 



a call every twenty minutes is about right. 

 Finally we got an answer, and the General in- 

 sisted upon me calling every few minutes. We 

 heard the bull answer several times in the dis- 

 tant valley, but in the meantime the General 

 was getting very impatient and restless, occa- 

 sionally standing up to get the kinks out of 

 his back. The bushes parted on the other side 

 of the water not more than 15 yards away and 

 out came the biggest set of antlers I had seen 

 for many a day. The General seemed to lose 

 his head and forgot he had a gun, for he stood 

 looking at the noble animal, until I said, ' Gen- 

 eral, are n't you going to shoot? ' In answer 

 he said, ' 'T ain't a very good shot.' I then 

 placed the big end of the horn between my legs, 

 gave a grunt as though it came from the bow- 

 els of the earth: forthwith the bull made one 

 jump, landed in the middle of the stream look- 

 ing up and down, and although we were stand- 

 ing in full view with bushes to our middle, 

 he had not seen us. In the meantime the Gen- 

 eral stood as though paralyzed and made 

 no attempt to shoot. Presently I whis- 

 pered, ' Shoot ! ' He, turning partly around, 



