214 Hunting Big Game 



anything. Now a bush is a heron or a crane 

 taking his nap; a pike or pickerel in search of 

 food, like a flash, darts from the shallow to 

 deeper water ; a bat whirls gracefully into and 

 out of the rays of light; and the doleful call 

 of the loon, answered by its mate, warns every 

 living thing that strange visitors are come. 

 Splash! 'T was only a muskrat charmed with 

 the light and then making a hasty retreat, but 

 Tenderfoot almost upset the canoe as the 

 remnant of his shattered nerves incontinently 

 left him. 



Stealing thus along the shore, with the ko- 

 dak arranged in the bow of the boat ready for 

 immediate action, the flash-pan fixed a little 

 above and to the right of the aperture, and the 

 " jack " in hand throwing its rays far in ad- 

 vance, we are startled. "There 'tis! there 

 'tis! deer! deer!" whispers the guide. 



Presently in front of us could be heard a 

 sound of dripping water which to the exper- 

 ienced ear told plainly that the quarry was 

 feeding among the lily-pads. The guide con- 

 tinued to push the canoe through the grass, and 

 as this rubbed along the side of the boat it 



