A WONDERFUL LIFE PRESERVER. 



Hunters, like cats, should have nine lives in order to safely undergo 

 all the perils of out-door adventure, remarked Mr. Upton, of the Oxford 

 Manufacturing Company, Chicago. This idea w^as suggested to me by 

 the fact that once in my "checkered career" a single shot from my rifle, at 

 a critical moment, saved my life at least five times. It happened in this way. 

 I was standing close to a craggy cliff, in a fine game region, with my rifle 

 in hand, when all at once a startled elk, running along the base of the 

 mountain, bounded almost upon me. 



To avoid being trampled on, I leaped backward, firing the rifle at 

 the same instant, and to my surprise, as I fell, I heard a death yell, evi- 

 dently from an Indian some distance to my right. At the same instant the 

 ground upon which I had just stood crumbled and fell, opening a chasm 

 at least a hundred feet in depth, into which I would have been precipitated 

 had I remained there an instant longer. The falling of this section of 

 ground loosened a huge crag directly overhead, which dropped with terri- 

 ble force into the abyss, so that if I had by any chance escaped instant 

 death, I would have been crushed by the descending rock. 



The elk, as I afterward found, had been struck by the bullet at the top 

 of his skull, stunning him, and as he fell forward his antlers pierced a large 

 rattlesnake, which was coiled ready to spring upon me at the point where I 

 had formerly stood. The death-cry which I heard was from an Indian who 

 had " drawn a bead " on me, and would doubtless have fired a fatal shot 

 had it not been for my bullet which glanced from the head of the elk and 

 struck the chief directly in the heart. This I have always considered 

 a miraculous escape, and a hunting adventure somewhat unique in character. 



AN INSATIATE ARCHER. 



My favorite amusement is archery, in fact, my friends sometimes 

 tell me that I " draw the long bow " too often, remarked Mr. Stanley Day, 

 of New Market, N.J. It is astonishing to note the skill which may be 

 attained by careful practice with the bow and arrow. I find it very easy 

 to kill birds on the wing, and frequently by the use of three arrows have 

 killed as many birds at one time. I also do curved shooting, usin|^ 

 generally two arrows; each of the arrows has a curve, and will turn in a 

 half circle, one to the right and the other to the left. 



I have become quite an adept in this style of shooting, and 

 can hit two bull's-eyes, each one hundred yards distant, and in 

 exactly opposite directions. This would seem to be a difficult feat, 



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