A nUNTKR'8 LIFE. 303 



made a fire, roasted some venison, and ate a good sup- 

 per. Thus I put the " little end foremost" five times that 

 afternoon, and got a good deer every time the little end 

 (lashed fire and brimstone. 



In the morning I started for home, arriving there about 

 nine o'clock ; and taking with me a boy and two horses, 

 I went for my deer. I found all safe but one doe, which 

 a gentleman bear had made free to tear to pieces, and 

 what was left was as black as if hogs had been at it. I 

 conveyed home my pretty buck and the other three, and 

 thus saved my sheep. Since then I have often told Mary 

 never to forget the " little end foremost." 



After this extraordinarily lucky hunt, I traded my gun 

 for a broken rifle, which was very finely finished, with silver 

 mountings on every place that could add to its beauty. I 

 took it to a gunsmith in Monongahela county, Virginia, 

 about thirteen miles from my farm, and bargained with 

 him to repair it by the last week in October. When the 

 time came, I went on foot for it, intending to hunt as 1 

 returned home. When I arrived at the smith's, the gun 

 was not done ; and as it would take one day more to finish 

 it, I agreed to wait there for it. 



During the night there fell a light snow, when, as there 

 was a rifle in the shop, which had been left there to be 

 repaired, I took it, and went out to kill a deer for the 

 gunsmith. As I had hunted in those woods before, and 

 knew where to go, I went to a good place, where I disco- 

 vered a fine buck, which, however, had started to run 

 before I saw him. When I saw him running, I made the 

 best guess I could for him, and fired, with but little hope 

 of success ; but when I came to his tracks, I found blood 

 after him, and a short distance off I found him lying dead. 

 Not being far from the smith's house, I dragged him 

 thither, and was back in time for my breakfast. 



\ had desired Mary to have some bread in readiness for 



