A New Year's Deer Hunt. 



and grace, and seem so near, that one little suspects how the 

 logs and trees beyond hunger for lead. 



I was shooting a double-barrel muzzle-loading gun, and as 

 the big buck rose over the second log I held low with great 

 care with the sight glimmering on the white below the rising 

 tail and pulled the trigger. I saw the snow fly from the top of 

 the log as the whirl went over it in an easy curve. But how 

 those nine buckshot missed that large body and got through 

 that group of logs was a surprise to me. But they did, and my 

 deer sped on unhurt. I watched them as they bounded across 

 the open prairie and knew that it would be useless to follow 

 them any further that day. 



There was an Indian camp on Lime Creek above our own 

 and I decided to take that in on my way back. I gave up the 

 idea of venison and, hunting carefully on my way back to the 

 creek for smaller game, I picked up a few rabbits and 

 pheasants, reaching the Indian camp just as they were at din- 

 ner. I was hungry, but not hungry enough to join them in 

 their New Year's dinner. A big kettle of stew hung over the 

 fire, the meat part of which looked suspiciously like muskrat 

 to me, and the balance well, I would not even guess at that. 

 Over another fire hung a kettle full of some kind of grease, and 

 a squaw was dropping pieces of dough into this to cook them. 



It was 3 o'clock when I reached camp, and dinner was 

 ready. Ours was a boiled dinner, too, consisting of stewed 

 venison, potatoes, cold beans and hot biscuit. There was no 

 second or third course, but the meal was sauced with a healthy 

 outdoor appetite that made it a feast. 



Within an hour after our dinner dishes were put away 

 the dark, stormy night closed in. The wind howled through 

 the trees and the snow piled against the tent, but our double 

 tent and red-hot stove defied the wintry blasts. Jokes, stories, 

 anecdotes of bad misses and mishaps whiled away the hours 

 until bed-time. 



Outers' Book. 



[98] 



