One Deer. 179 



stopped paddling. The boat glided slowly 

 along with its own motion as we care- 

 fully scanned every fallen hemlock for a 

 sight of red hair, and in a moment I heard 

 a low whisper, " See that buck on the 

 right ! " at the same instant catching sight 

 of a pair of horns behind a stump that 

 stood quite a way out in the water, and 

 not more than ten rods from us. The old 

 fellow had evidently been watching us just 

 a little longer than we had been watching 

 him, and had taken good pains to keep 

 his eyes over the stump and very little 

 of the rest of his body in sight. I felt the 

 tremor of the boat again as Dick cautious- 

 ly plied the paddle, and we tried to move 

 to a position where I could see enough to 

 shoot at, but the buck knew what we were 

 about, and kept backing around until he 

 could go no further, when with five or six 

 long bounds, with flag raised, he made for 

 a windfall and stopped behind it for a 

 minute, snorting and stamping, before 

 taking his final leap into the underbrush. 

 He stood tail toward me, with his head 

 turned and looking over his shoulder, 



