140 HUNTING SPORTS OF THE WEST. ' 



the air ; Con well thought it must be his dog who had 

 ^found his trail. As I supposed so too, I took no no- 

 tice, until I thought I heard a short bark, and Bears- 

 grease, growling lightly, gave me a significant look. I 

 jumped up with my rifle, and in a minute a noble buck, 

 with horns laid back, rushed by at full speed, at about 

 twenty paces from the camp. I sent a ball into him, 

 and my dog was instantly close on his heels; He did 

 not run far; my ball had broken the left leg, and passed 

 through the right. After running about 200 paces, he 

 sprang into the Richland, .on whose banks we were en- 

 camped, and seemed resolved to sell his life as dearly as 

 possible. The dogs were upon him, but, as they were 

 forced to swim, while he touched the bottom, he had not 

 much difficulty in shaking them off again. -Conwell re- 

 mained lying as if it were no concern of his, so I seized 

 his rifle, ran to the bank, ended the poor animal's tor- 

 ments with a ball through his brain, and plunged into 

 the water to pull him out. Now we had meat in plenty ; 

 the skin and haunches were hung up, the ribs roasted, 

 and the dogs fed before dark. 



We slept well all night, and were up early, but the 

 leaves were so dry that we found nothing but one turkey,- 

 which Conwell knocked over. However, the sky began 

 to get cloudy, and as we had meat for the present, our 

 hopes rose. It came on to blow from the north, but we 

 were protected by a bank of about ten feet high, and 

 though we could not sit close to it on account of sharp 

 stones, yet it kept off some of the cold wind, and a glo- 

 rious fire soon made us forget it. 



Supper was over, and Conwell had taken off one o^ 



