In Old Virginia 



1^3 



stern with a Parker loaded with birdshot. By 

 this time the deer saw us and turned his course 

 towards the other shore, about a mile away. 

 Our boat fairly shot through the water as 

 the oarsman utilized every ounce of strength 

 at his command to overtake the quarry. As 

 the chase continued, the excitement in- 

 creased. The man in the bow was shooting, 

 and at the same time shouting, " Put it to her, 

 Bill, you 're gaining." The man in the stern 

 in a deep low voice also encouraged w ith words 

 and action as he sat bending his body now 

 forward, now backward, in unison with the 

 motive power, which, however, was fast ebbing 

 away. Finally, and before we were near the 

 deer, the middle man, addressing the man in 

 the stern, exclaimed, " I can't pull any more; 

 you take the oars now." There was a hasty 

 change of positions and the fresh man seized 

 the oars, and with his great skill and strength 

 the boat gained gradually until we were pos- 

 sibly within thirty yards of the buck, when 

 the new oarsman was about to drop the oars in 

 sheer exhaustion. The rifle being empty, the 

 man at the oars about to give up, the man with 



