K hunter's life. 261 



thing buL a foolish desire for sport that brought me here. 

 This is certainly great sport, to have my head stuck fast 

 to a tree ; and, as like as not, I will have to cut all my 

 hair oflf ; for if I cut one-half off to get clear of the cursed 

 pitch, the other half will have to come off also, or I may 

 be mistaken for a convict escaped from the Penitentiary. 

 However, this is all fudge. But what about eating ? I 

 am now in need of something to eat ; for as soon as the 

 fun fever leaves, which I think is fast going, I shall be 

 weak, and perhaps sick into the bargain ; and then God 

 only knows when I shall find the camp again. Well, the 

 first thing to be done is to kill a deer, and get something 

 to eat. I have half a pound of powder in my horn, fifty 

 balls in my pouch, and some salt ; and I must have a deer 

 soon. If I get one near by, I will return here, to save 

 making a fire in the snow." 



At last the day-light appeared, when everything being 

 covered and bent down with snow, I hunted for bushes 

 that had leaves on, which I dried over the fire, and, put- 

 ting some in my moccasins, I put my feet in on the leaves, 

 crammed in leaves around them until I could get no more 

 in, then tied them up, and was ready for the snow, 



I started out from my warm fire into the snow, taking a 

 course that I thought would bring me to some high ground, 

 in order that I might form some idea of where I was. I 

 eoon scared up four deer, but did not see them until they 

 ran off. Moving on, I saw a deer standing looking at me, 

 and though it was a long shot and a bad chance, I cracked 

 away at him. The snow was falling so fast, that it was 

 difiicult to see anything at any distance ; and as I could 

 not discover the deer after my gun was discharged, I went 

 to examine what damage had been done. It seemed as if 

 there had been twenty deer there, all running and fight- 

 ing ; for there was blood after several of the bucks, and so 



