A H LI N T E R ' 8 L I F K . 213 



found tlie wDole load of those rough shot loilj^ud in liiw 

 Khoulder, though not deep enough to kill hiui. This proved 

 to myself and old Mr. Dayis, that it was the very same 

 fellow which wanted to drive me from his prey, in Deep 

 Creek. 



After the flurry occasioned by the bear in the Creek had 

 subsided a little, William and I again started down the 

 stream after deer, discovering along the route otter, musk- 

 rats, ducks, and even hundreds of trout, as they jumped 

 out of the water. At length, hearing a great splashing 

 and bubbling, we saw a fine deer standing nearly to his 

 belly in the water, with his head entirely under it, feeding 

 on the moss which grew on the bottom of the creek. ^Ve 

 pushed our canoe so near, that we could hear the noise of 

 his teeth cutting and chewing the moss. Leveling my 

 musket, I put the whole load into his side, and he dropped 

 dead in the creek. Taking the deer into the canoe, we 

 paddled to our fire, where we had our horses hobbled, eat- 

 ing grass ; made uj) a good fire, roasted and ate some of 

 our venison, and then laid ourselves down to sleep. As 

 the day broke, my famous dog Bosin returned to us ; but 

 I shall speak of him in another place. 



Having overlooked one circumstance, it will not be 

 amiss to mention it here. Hugh AIcMuIIen and myself 

 having been far in the woods for some time, we were with- 

 out bread for two or three days, during which time we 

 lived on meat, without either bread or salt. Wo started 

 for home early one morning, and as we traveled along dis- 

 covered the tracks of a panther, which had been jnirsuing 

 some deer. I told Hugh that though we were hungry and 

 weak, I would like to follow that fellow, and stop liim from 

 killing any more deer. Hugh at first refused, saying thai 

 he was so weak and hungry that he could not stand it. 



"Well," said I, "you may go on home, and I will give 

 him a trial for if we let him slip now, we may not see 



