116 THE COMMON AMERICAN DEER. 



* Do you remember old Elkanah Gfilkey ? ' asked a 

 tall gaunt backwoodsman once on such an occasion. 



' Can't say I do,' was the reply. 



The backwoodsman then informed his hearers that 

 Elkanah was a tall powerful man, upwards of six 

 feet high, though, like most men who live constantly 

 in the woods and on the prairies, he was very slow 

 of speech. His rifle weighed exactly twenty-seven 

 pounds, and carried a ball weighing an ounce; with 

 this weapon he could bring down a deer at two hun- 

 dred and fifty yards distance, and in the space of 

 three years he had killed fifteen hundred deer for 

 the sake of their skins. He could strip the animal 

 of its natural covering in a few seconds, making a 

 cut along the belly, and then forcing it off with his 

 clenched fist inserted between the flesh and the skin. 

 So well know^n w^as his skill that through all the coun- 

 try round he was known as 'the deer-hunter.' 



' Well, as I said,' continued the backwoodsman, ' old 

 Elk (we called him Elk for short) was, as I have said, 

 one of the cleverest hunters in all Texas. You might 

 bet high that he never went out for meat but what he 

 got it ; he made all his living out of the woods, he did. 

 And that was a dog, that dog of his, True-tongue was.' 



The hunter seemed lost in thought, for he became 

 silent at the recollection of True-tongue. 



^Well, what about the dog?' asked an impatient 

 listener. 



