184 ANOTHER DAY AT CHEE-HA. 



what he's after, for he follows nothing but deer 

 Your second barrel snapt, of course ?" 



"I don't say that," says Geordy ; "I had 

 wounded the six last deer I'd fired at, so I thought 

 I'd kill one to-day, and while I looked to see if 

 that was really dead, the others slipt by me." 



" Done like a sportsman, Geordy ; one dead deer 

 is worth a dozen crippled ones. I remember, once, 

 your powder was too weak ; and next, your shot 

 were too small ; and next, your aim was somewhat 

 wild ; and one went off bored of an ear, and another 

 nicked of a tail. You are bound to set up an 

 infirmary across the river, for the dismembered 

 deer you have dispatched there ! You have done 

 well to kill let it grow into a habit. Nimrod to 

 the southwest, said you ? That rascal is a born 

 economist ; and not a foot will he budge in pursuit 

 of a living deer, after your horn has told him there 

 is venison in the rear ! Ruler will drive his deer 

 across the river. Rouser to the marshes. Nimrod's 

 quarry is the only one likely to halt and give us 

 another chance." 



And sure enough, there came Nimrod trotting 

 back on his track his nose cocked up in air, as if 

 to indorse and verify the inferences of his ear his 

 tail curled and standing out from his body, at an 

 angle of 45 



