At St. Marys 



degree taking aim. The frightened but 

 unhurt animals had disappeared ; and we 

 now found ourselves looking at each other 

 in a dazed sort of way, not just realizing 

 for a second what had taken place. But 

 it dawned on us soon enough. 



Hardeman broke the silence. 



" Why, they were not more than fifty 

 yards away," said he in an incredulous 

 tone; then, as the full extent of the calam- 

 ity broke upon him, he shrieked, "Great 

 Heavens, man ! We have missed them ! 

 We have missed them, I tell you." I was 

 aware of this, and made no reply, but re- 

 mained sitting where I was, elbows on my 

 knees, and head between my hands. I was 

 trying to puzzle out how we had missed 

 them. 



" And they were not over fifty yards," 

 said Hardeman, his voice taking on a dis- 

 couraged tone of conviction. " Not an 

 inch over fifty yards, and we missed them, 

 we missed them." He fell to musing 

 again. 



We had forgotten the existence of our 

 guide until now, but we were made aware 

 of it by hearing a subdued chuckling as 

 he appeared from behind the rock where 

 we had left him. His chuckling was not 

 well-timed, and I reached for my rifle. 

 293 



