A REGISTERED VOW. 117 



and visions of a good dinner, comfortable fire, and dry 

 clothes floated before me. Hark ! what is that a dog 

 barking ? And so it was. Forward I pushed to the sound, 

 and, in doing so, came across a road, which, on inspection, 

 I recognized as one we had traversed in the morning. The 

 rest of the programme for that day was plain sailing. I 

 found my pony where he was left, my friend's horse being 

 gone ; so, concluding Will had made tracks for home, I 

 mounted my fiery little nag, and with a sufficiently tight 

 rein to guard against accidents, rattled home almost at ra- 

 cing pace. It was nearly two hours afterward that Will 

 turned up, wet and exhausted down upon his luck, and 

 deer in particular vowing that he would be up with the 

 sun in the morning, and not return till he could boast of 

 not having been beaten by a broken-legged deer when there 

 was enough snow to track. My defeat had similarly oper- 

 ated on myself, so that we mutually agreed to devote the 

 morrow, blow or snow, to re-establish our tarnished honor. 

 The morning was well suited for our task, still and clear, 

 with just sufficient frost in the atmosphere to give zest to 

 traveling. The track was easily found, my back track be- 

 ing taken as the guide. 



In ten minutes we again had our game afoot, but with- 

 out getting a shot, the animal having doubled round before 

 lying down, and, consequently, rising behind us. The bed 

 where he had passed the night was soiled with blood, and 

 other indications were such as to justify us in hoping early 

 success. Although perseverance is generally rewarded, it 

 was not so on this occasion. Hour after hour slipped by, 

 the game appeared to moderate its pace in accordance with 

 ours just keeping sufficiently ahead to be out of range. 

 The badness of the walking (for a thaw had commenced), 

 the continued disappointment, and the difficulty of follow- 

 ing through the bush, commenced to operate upon our 



