302 HILLS AND LAKES 



stamping, as if endeavoring to call out his hidden foe, 

 If the hunter lays quiet, in the course of a quarter or 

 half an hour, the deer will overcome his fears, or con- 

 clude there is no danger, and walk into the lick. A 

 match is cautiously applied to the torch, and as it 

 blazes up, he raises his head with a start, cocks his 

 tail, and gazes with astonishment at the light. Some- 

 times he will make a bound or two and stop, to ex- 

 amine the strange fire thus suddenly kindled before 

 him. Then is the hunter's time. There must be no 

 rustling of leaves, no breaking of dry twigs, or the 

 deer will plunge snorting and whistling away into the 

 forest, leaving him to his meditations, and the mus- 

 quitos and black flies, till morning, or a dark walk in 

 the woods home. If he is careful, his game is so 

 near, that his shot will be sure and fatal. 



There is one great drawback to this kind of sport. 

 The musquito and black fly swarm round the hunter, 

 stinging and biting him almost beyond endurance. 

 He can have no smudge. He cannot stir, to fight 

 them away while the deer is making up his mind 

 whether to " come in," or run away. He can only 

 lay still and bear the infliction " with what fortitude 

 he may." Half an hour of such torment is poorly re- 



