LOOKING FOR DEER LYING DOWN. 85 



Night drops at last her dark pall around your hopes. 

 You wend your way homeward with gloomy face and 

 heavy heart. 



Yet why despond? You cannot expect to learn an 

 art in a day or two. You have made progress enough 

 already. You have learned what deer-hunting is not. 

 You do not yet realize in a practical form the exces- 

 sive amount of caution necessary. You still step too 

 hard; let your clothes touch too much brush; your 

 eyes are yet too dull; and you make many mistakes 

 of strategy. 



But there is no ground for discouragement. It took 

 me just eleven days, where deer were plenty, too, but 

 very wild, to get sight of my first deer. Humiliating to 

 confess, but I confess for your benefit. The causes 

 were books, dry leaves, still days, and totally erro- 

 neous notions derived from pictures, hunting-stories, 

 old hunters' gabble, etc., without any book or friend to 

 help me. 



