100 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



We will suppose, too, that you have duly studied 

 the lessons you have had, and are getting quite an 

 idea of the kinds of ground on which a deer may be 

 expected to be found at any particular time of day, 

 as well as of those kinds upon which he will probably 

 not be found. With this improvement we will try 

 the woods again. 



Already the east is flooded with enough silvery 

 sheen to allow you to see a deer in the woods, and 

 again you are gliding along the acorn ridges. The 

 morning is cool and fresh; there was a fine rain yes- 

 terday, and all the leaves and twigs under foot are 

 soft and quiet to the touch; the breeze is strong and 

 fresh, and by walking against it this morning you 

 shall have good prospects of game, you think. Very 

 correct. But relax not an atom 'of either vigilance or 

 caution on account of these advantages. Mark this 

 well. In still-hunting you have never an advantage to spare. 

 It will do you no harm to retain every one, and you 

 may lose by throwing away a very slight one that you 

 think quite needless. 



And what sort of a beast is that on yonder ridge 

 a hundred and fifty yards away, just dimly visible 

 through the cloud of twigs and branches of interven- 

 ing trees? It can hardly be a deer. It looks small 

 and dark and lacks all that graceful outline of the 

 deer engraved on the lock-plate of your gun. Its 

 head, too, is low down and projecting like that of a 

 long-necked goat, while its nether extremity looks 

 awkwardly angular like that of a cow. It is not a 

 very enchanting piece of symmetry, and seems lacking 

 in that feature so essential to the regulation deer a 

 pair of ten-pointed horns. But then it is an animal 

 of some kind and must be inspected. And to tell you 



