116 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



searched, my eyes nearly strained to bursting, till at length 

 I was compelled to give up the chase. On looking round 

 to find out as nearly as possible my situation, the better 

 and more directly to return to my horse, I espied a splen- 

 did wild turkey busy feeding not over thirty yards off, and 

 still unaware of my presence. Sheltering myself behind a 

 fallen log, I took sight along my barrel, determining inward- 

 ly to have some reward for my labor; but although this 

 time I worked the trigger correctly, nothing but the explo- 

 sion of the cap took place ; in fact, the rifle had missed fire. 

 The turkey, frightened at the noise, lowered his head, ran 

 about twenty yards, then stopped, and looked around, still 

 ignorant of the cause of his alarm. Substituting a new cap 

 and again taking sight was but the work of a few moments, 

 but still the gun refused to explode. I now sprung my 

 ramrod and placed on the nipple another cap, but the result 

 was as before; and the turkey having become conscious 

 that he was in a dangerous neighborhood, sought safety in 

 flight. How often a day's shooting is one tissue of blun- 

 ders from morning till night ! and so it was in this case. 

 First, the game had passed too far from my stand ; second- 

 ly, changing guns had lost me the deer; and, thirdly, the 

 carelessness of my friend in not sheltering his gun from the 

 damp was the reason of my not having turkey for a future 

 day's dinner. 



Tired, hungry, and bad-tempered, I struck off direct for 

 my horse, expecting to have little more than a mile to walk ; 

 but with surprise, after having traveled that distance, I 

 found I was turned round and lost. Already it was sunset ; 

 half an hour more would make it dark, and the bottom-land 

 which I was now wandering through was as intricate, dense- 

 ly covered a swamp as ever was inhabited by wild-cat. The 

 season of the year, moreover, was not exactly the one to se- 

 lect for making your couch on the surface of mother earth, 



