396 THE ADIKONDACK. 



while Charlie cautiously and noiselessly paddled him up 

 to it. A deer depends almost entirely upon his hearing, 

 or, at least, seems to have no idea of distance when 

 looking over water, and hence will allow a hunter to 

 approach close to him if the latter will make no noise. 

 But at the least sound, the slightest dip of the paddle, 

 he is off like an arrow. 



As Charlie slowly approached this one, he occasion- 

 ally raised his head, as if suspicious of the object that 

 kept advancing towards his feeding-ground, but did not 

 move away. It was necessary to get very near to him, 

 for a shot-gun, you know, will not carry like a rifle. At 



length I saw C raise his piece. The next moment 



a puff of smoke shot out over the lake, followed by a 

 loud report. I expected, of course, to see the deer fall 

 or vanish like a flash into the woods. But he only look- 

 ed up astonished. Some of the buck-shot had evidently 

 struck his flank, inflicting a smarting wound; for he 

 turned and began to lick his sides as if something had 

 "stung him. The second barrel seemed to alarm him, 

 and he walked off into the woods. Charlie thought 



that C , who was not accustomed to guns, had put 



in too small a charge of powder, so that the shot only 

 barely punctured the skin, and did not enter the animal 



