296 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



credit to a Sioux brave in a charge. His ludicrous antics 

 elicited roars of laughter from the spectators ; and several 

 were shaking 1 so violently from their cachinatory exercise that 

 they could not shoot a buck ten paces away at the time. 



After the ceremony of a mock baptism of the stag-, and feed- 

 ing- the hungry hounds with the viscera, we started towards 

 the river, as runways were exceedingly numerous, and all 

 showed that the deer had used them the previous night, 

 judging by the freshness and direction of the sluts. Long 

 before we had taken our stations, which were several yards 

 apart, the musical chorus of the hounds was heard amid the 

 forest depths, now here, now there, until it finally burst into 

 a full and thrilling cry, which the trees and rocks and hills, 

 and even the lowliest shrub, seemed to take up, and to echo and 

 re-echo in such stentorian tones that the whole country in 

 front appeared to be occupied by enchanted packs numbering 

 many thousands. The dogs coursed about the hills for some 

 time, until the quarry became weary, when it headed for the 

 river. This brought the pack towards us, but we could not 

 tell in what particular direction it was running, owing to the 

 sonorous echoes that resounded from every quarter. 



While anxiously waiting on a well-worn runway, I espied 

 a splendid doe come bounding through the forest. I intended 

 at first to fire at her before she got too near, but I thought 

 my chances would be better if I allowed her to come so close 

 that I could get a shot at her sides ; and acting impulsively on 

 this idea, I reserved my fire until she came within a few paces 

 of me on my left. I then pulled the trigger, but before the 

 shot reached her she was a stride away, and when I turned 

 round to give her the second barrel she was screened by a net- 

 work of fallen trees and bushes, which she had cleared with a 

 tremendous bound. I was so incensed at myself for missing 

 such an easy shot that I was fairly crestfallen ; but before I 

 had much time to think over my chagrin, a report to the right 

 attracted my attention, and this was soon followed by a joyous 

 shout, a proof that somebody had been more successful than 

 myself. 



As the baying of the pack still sounded in the distance, 

 instead of answering the summons for aid, I concluded 1 had 



