308 GA ULTIER 'S ADVENTURE. 



continued, " near the Upper Ottawa, which was then a 

 first-rate place for deer. We decided one night that 

 we would have a fire-hunt, as a relative of my friend's 

 was coming from Ottawa on a visit, and my host was 

 anxious to have a fine fat buck to help the entertain- 

 ment. 



" The night was very favourable that is, it was as 

 dark as a wolf's mouth and after supper we left the 

 house, and having provided ourselves with a bag of 

 pitch-pine knots and an old frying-pan, we got into a 

 canoe and dropped quietly down the river. There 

 were few settlers in those days round my friend's 

 neighbourhood; but among the few who had found 

 their way up there, was an old gentleman who had 

 formerly been an officer in the French army. I had 

 often heard of him, and from all accounts he was a 

 queer old fellow. His house stood very near the river, 

 but divided from it by some brushwood, through which 

 grew a few tall trees. All these particulars I learned 

 afterwards. Well, we put up our birch-bark screen so as 

 to intervene between us and the light of the blazing 

 fire-pan, and, crouching behind its shadow, we keenly 

 scrutinized the bank of the river, expecting each mo- 

 ment to catch the gleam of an eye peering at us from 

 among the foliage. 



" We had not proceeded far when my friend drew 

 my attention to a bright, glistening object, apparently 

 at the verge of the water. ' It's a deer,' he whispered ; 

 ' take a good aim, and be sure you drop him.' Follow- 



