THE DEER HUNT. 145 



very slowly. He sees that I am coming too near him, and he 

 makes a short turn and swims for the middle of the lake just 

 where I wanted him to go, exactly ! When I found he was 

 safe, I dropped my paddle and shouted lustily for joy. Fa- 

 ther came in a few minutes, and dispatched him, but not with- 

 out a desperate battle. He fired three charges of buck-shot 

 into his head, struck him more than forty blows with a hatchet, 

 and only succeeded in killing him by getting hold of his legs 

 separately and hamstringing him, after which he could raise 

 his head sufficiently to cut his throat. He was an old buck of 

 the toughest kind, and weighed three hundred pounds. 



10 



