228 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



convinced their producers were not far off. What to do with 

 Pussy first occurred to me, and, as I neither wished to lose 

 my pet or have her company, a thought struck me why 

 not tie her up with a long piece of string I had in my 

 game-bag? Very few of us have not tied up a dog, and 

 found he had slipped his collar on their return ; a little ex- 

 perience and care will obviate this as far as the canine race 

 go, but to tie up a cat is quite another kettle of fish. At 

 length, however, I succeeded, by not only placing a collar 

 round her neck, but also around her shoulders, at the back 

 of the fore-legs, which, connected by an inch of cord, retain- 

 ed each in its place without Puss having the power to slip 

 them. To this connecting link I attached six feet of string, 

 which I made fast to a long horizontal branch, about five 

 feet from the ground. Thus the cat could lie down or 

 stand up, but not go sufficiently far to lay hold of any 

 thing with her claws to assist her to tear from her moor- 

 ings. Pussy soon found that escape was impossible, so sat- 

 isfied herself by expressing her feelings of disappointment 

 by giving vent to low, piteous cries. 



Off I went after the deer. From the woodland they had 

 crossed a small inclosure of tobacco, proceeded through a 

 belt of brush-wood, and entered my corn-field. Making a 

 circle to get the w T ind, I carefully entered the maize, and 

 after half an hour's diligent search, during the greater part 

 of which I was crawling on my hands and knees, I viewed 

 the dusky hide of a well-fed doe, which I brought down at 

 the first shot. 



Having secured my prey I returned for Pussy, and, as 

 chance would have it, I approached up wind the place where 

 she was tied. If I had forgotten her exact position, I could 

 easily have found it by her piteous mewings. When with- 

 in fifty yards of where she was, on looking to my front, to 

 my surprise, I saw nine full-grown wild turkeys around her, 



