188 . ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



greater energy. No applause could have got anoth- 

 er inch of jump out of the buck, or another inch 

 of horizontal position out of Martin. Whenever, 

 at long intervals, his feet did touch the ground, it 

 was only to leave it for another and a higher aerial 

 plunge. Now and then the buck would take a short 

 stretch into the fog and darkness, only to reappear 

 with the same mevitable attachment of arms and 

 legs streaming behind. The scene was too ludi- 

 crous to be endured in silence. The desperate ex- 

 pression of Martin's face, as he was swung round and 

 jerked about, was enough to make a monk explode 

 with laughter while doing penance. I rested my 

 hands on either knee, and laughed until tears rolled 

 down my cheeks. The merriment was all on my 

 side. Martin was silent as death, save when the 

 buck, in some extraordinary and desperate leap, 

 twitched a grunt out of him. Between my parox- 

 ysms I exhorted him : it was my time to exhort. 

 " Martin," I shouted, " hang on ; that 's your deer. 

 I quit all claim to him. Hang on, I say. Save 

 his tail anyhow." 



Wliether Martin appreciated the advice, wheth- 

 er he exactly saw where the " laugh came in," I 

 cannot say, and he could not explain. Still, I am 

 led to think that it was to him no trifling affair, 

 but a matter which moved him profoundly. At 

 last the knife was jerked from his teeth, either 

 because of the violence of his exertion, or because 



