THE FIRST SIGHT OF GAME. 87 



shape of ground, direction of wind, and facilities for 

 quietly moving. 



Suddenly your eye rests upon a dim spot of dark 

 gray on a ridge a hundred and fifty yards off. A 

 strange feeling overwhelms you at once, for there is 

 about it a something an indescribable something 

 that never would have caught your eye before, but 

 now does most decidedly catch it. But then it does 

 not look in the least like 



Ha! It moves, and in a moment slides slowly out 

 of sight over the ridge. 



Why, that must have been a 



Of course. What other thing of that color would 

 be there at this time of day? Its head and legs were 

 out of sight beyond the crest of the ridge, so that you 

 could distinguish nothing that looked much like an 

 animal. 



And now what will you do about it ? Seeing a deer 

 is by no means getting a shot at it, and getting a shot 

 is often a long way from bagging it. I will leave you 

 to yourself and let you see how naturally you will do 

 the wrong thing. 



With stealthy step you cross the hollow directly in 

 line with the spot where the deer disappeared. By 

 the time you get half way to the top of the ridge a 

 faint thump -k-thump comes from the other side. Re- 

 membering your experience of yesterday, you dash to 

 the crest and arrive there just in time to see nothing. 

 You had just a little too far to run; it was up hill 

 also; and the deer needed but a few bounds to disap- 

 pear in the heavy timber of the flat below. 



And how did you lose him ? Well, he was feeding 

 slowly along, and was just below where you last saw 

 him when you came to the foot of the ridge. You 



