100 THE COMMON AMERICAN DEER. 



assassination sport of fire-hunting. He has been over 

 a very likely feeding place, where high grass waves in 

 plenty, and where there are many scattered ponds. 

 Such a region might well tempt the deer to linger, and 

 yet to his surprise not a head of game is to be seen ; 

 thousfh from the darkness of the nig-hts he knows well 

 enough that they ought to be feeding. The hunter, 

 after puzzling his head for some time to discover the 

 reason of this, suddenly remembers that, about three 

 weeks back, he saw the smoke of a prairie fire a few 

 miles off; and he recollects, too, that this fire was very 

 soon extinguished by the violent rain of a real Texan 

 thunderstorm. He at once understands the reason why 

 no deer are to be found, and, without wasting any more 

 time, turns his horse's head towards the scene of the fire. 



That his surmise is correct, he learns as soon as he 

 arrives at the outskirts of the long grass where the 

 progress of the fire was arrested. Before him stretches 

 a level plain, several miles in extent, on which there is 

 a crop of short yellow tinted grass, somewhat resembling 

 a field of young wheat ; but so rapid has been the 

 growth of this new vegetation, that it has not yet 

 attained its proper emerald hue. Scattered about this 

 wide expanse are deer in groups of from half-a-dozen 

 to twenty, eagerly devouring the rich young grass. 



'Yes,' a looker-on might well remark, 'there are 

 plenty of deer, and fine animals they appear to be; 

 but the nearest herd is at least twelve hundred yards 



