A DEER CHASE. 137 



shoots through his wild heart as the yell again 

 ringing through the forest, tells him that the voice 

 is on his track." 



The west wind had now risen, and we sat and 

 rocked on the waves, listening to the furious out- 

 cry that the mountain sent down to the water. 

 The green forest shut in both hounds and deer, but 

 you could follow the chase by the rapidly flying 

 sound along the steep acclivities. How earnest and 

 eager is the bay of a blood-hound on a fresh track — 

 ah, it was exciting, cruel as it may seem to some. 

 Suddenly the boat, a mile and a half above us, shot 

 out like an arrow, from behind a rock, and flew 

 over the water. The quick eye of the Indian caught 

 it, and exclaiming " the deer has took to the water 

 there," sprang to his oars. "It is not possible," I 

 replied; "it is scarcely half an hour since the dogs 

 started." He stopped, rose to his full length in 

 the boat — stood for a moment like a statue, then 

 dropping on his seat, he exclaimed, " it is," and 

 seized the oars. I did not deem it possible he could 

 discover it that distance with his naked eye, but 

 he had been trained from infancy in the forest. In 

 that short time such a change had passed over the 



