294 FORTY-FOUR TEARS OF 



heavy burdens, he turned to me, and said, " I wish we wera 

 back at ' Milk and Honey.'" 



"Well, Hugh," said I, "under all the circumstances, I 

 really think the best thing we can do is to go back and 

 hunt nearer home ; and I believe there are more deer about 

 ' Milk and Honey ' than there are here." 



Having agreed to turn back, we took the hams of our 

 deer, and all the other pieces that would make steaks, 

 roasted and ate all we could, gave our dog as much as he 

 wanted, tied up the balance, bade farewell to Back-Bone, 

 and set out for " Milk and Honey." 



We traveled till afternoon, when our dog winded a deer. 

 We followed him, and soon saw a fine buck feeding quietly 

 in open ground. It was so cold that we could not take 

 time to creep up to him, so we agreed to shoot from where 

 we stood. I fired, and broke his shoulder, when off he 

 started for Yough. River, with the dog after him ; and 

 presently, hearing them fighting, we ran to help the dog, 

 and found him in the water with the buck. As we could 

 not shoot from the shore, lest we might hit the dog, we 

 both went in the water close to the deer, shot him, brought 

 his carcass to the shore, skinned it, hung it up, and started 

 off again for Mr. Johnson's. 



By this time it was night, and desperately cold. Our 

 feet being wet, and beginning to suffer, we increased our 

 speed, thinking to warm ourselves by running. At length 

 Hugh said his feet were freezing ; when I told him to 

 stand in a little branch of water until they were thawed, 

 ar.d I jumped in up to my ankles ; but he would not. As 

 we traveled on, my feet became limber, while his got harder 

 and tighter in his moccasins. 



We pushed on as fast as we could ; I wading every little 

 stream, and filling my moccasins with water, which checked 

 the frost and saved my feet, while his were freezing. At 

 laet we came to Johnson's ; and when we took off our 



