92 Bia GAME OF NORTH AMERICA 



site hill-side rushed the Deer for cover at the head of the 

 drake (Newfoundland term for grove) of timber, which 

 commanded almost half a mile down-stream, and for which 

 point Gisborne ran "for all he was worth," while Joe 

 started for the upper end for a chance shot if the Deer was 

 turned from below. 



It was a nip-and-tuck race; for, when Gisborne reached 

 the brook and proceeded upward, the freshly splashed 

 boulders proved that the stag had been turned. Rigid as 

 death, he listened attentively, awaiting Joe's shot — when, 

 without a moment's warning, the alder-bushes waved, and 

 the great stag appeared in mid-air as he cleared the brook 

 at a bound and dashed into the opj^osite growth; but not 

 until a ping from Gisborne' s rifle had i)laced a bullet a little 

 behind his shoulder, which landed him, dead as venison, 

 upon his mossy bier. 



A few minutes later Joe waded down the stream, with a 

 quiet look of exultation in his eye. 



" Me know you git him," he said. " Wolf sit top of hill 

 — watch if he come out — but he dead somewhere. Oh! " he 

 added, "one shot. — dead! Now Gisborne' s squaw say, 'All 

 right, Joe.' " 



What a noble brute! and what magnificent antlers — fifty- 

 four points! And the horns are here in Ottawa to prove the 

 correctness of the count. 



Now, however, came the tug of war — the transport of 

 the carcass from the glen to camp. Joe was ill with a 

 sprained back, caused by slipping off a wet boulder; but he 

 nobly bore the head and hide, while Mr. Gisborne staggered 

 along under the weight of the hind quarters in one piece, 

 and, after innumerable resting-spells, ultimately reached the 

 harbor, played out, but elated; and no wonder, his total 

 load, as scaled at a store at Heart's Content, having been 

 one hundred and eighty pounds. The haunch, which Mr. 

 Gisborne presented to his friend, Sir Alexander Bannerman, 

 Governor of Newfoundland, turned the scale at sixty-four 

 pounds. It was covered all over with a coating of fat two 

 inches in depth. 



