In Old Virginia 



159 



jumped a big buck and the dogs took it 

 straight to the crossing where one of our party, 

 who had never shot a deer, stood sentinel. 

 Presently we heard two shots ring out across 

 the ravine in quick succession — bang ! bang ! so 

 close together, we knew the trigger-puller had 

 a bad case of fever. 



When we reached the stand, the tender- 

 foot gunner informed us he had wounded the 

 deer and the hounds would soon catch him. 

 " There, he crossed right there," he explained. 

 " See, here is some of the blood." But a su- 

 perficial examination proved this latter to be 

 red vegetable formation on oak leaves. After 

 an investigation we found the wads from his 

 gun and where he had actually stood when he 

 shot at the deer. Comparing conditions dis- 

 closed the fact that one charge of buckshot 

 went into the ground close to the gunner's 

 feet, and that the other had entered a young 

 sapling not more then ten feet from where he 

 stood and about twenty feet from the ground. 

 Following with the ej^e the course taken by 

 this charge clearly indicated that, by the time 

 the buckshot reached the place where the deer 



