11« EARLY DAY STORIES. 



my knife and stepping on one horn and holding the other 

 with my left hand, so that he could not throw his head about, 

 I stuck him, and jumping quickly back out of the way picked 

 up the rifle. The deer, after considerable effort got upon 

 his feet and started to run down into the canyon again, the 

 blood streaming from his throat. He fell before reaching 

 the bottom but rolled the balance of the way down the steep 

 bank. The ball had passed through the neck between the 

 cord and the neck bone. This buck was a whitetail, the 

 largest one I ever killed of that species. He was a twelve 

 pointer and I have always kept the horns, using them for a 

 hat rack. Although we did not have a full load of game, 

 it was thought best to gather it up the next morning and 

 go back to the camp on Oak creek, knowing they needed 

 the meat. Next morning, therefore, we went into the hills 

 to get the deer. On the way out I killed two more, and 

 coming back got another. We now had five whole deer, 

 and the hind quarters of two elk making a good load. That 

 night the weather turned intensely cold and the Loup river 

 froze over. Before night the next day we were gladly wel- 

 comed back to camp, with the game which was greatly 

 needed. 



