400 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



full reflection from the eyes when the head? was depressed to the 

 very water, gathering the aquatic grass, but no matter what the 

 position is, the reflection seems always equally bright as if look- 

 ing directly towards you, and it is only by the movements that 

 you know that they are not, and that the animal is feeding un- 

 concernedly. When suiEcientlj'' near, deliberate aim should be 

 taken, not between the eyes, but about four inches below them. 

 Unless one is much accustomed to this kind of shooting, he is 

 almost sure to over-shoot, and if the face of the deer is nearly 

 horizontal, as it will be if he is looking at you, one inch too high 

 will miss the deer, while if you shoot too low, a shot in the neck 

 is as fatal as if in the head. The great excitement in this mode 

 of hunting is, when the Indian is rapidly paddling you toward 

 the splashing in the water, while the paddle dips so softly that 

 it gives out no sound, and all you can hear of your own advance 

 is a gentle murmur at the bow as it swiftly divides the waters. 

 You are then earnestly looking into the still gloom, and when 

 the orbs of light ahead are seen moving up and down and from 

 side to side, while you are yet too far away to shoot, but with . 

 the gun to your face waiting for the Indian to say shoot, if you 

 do not breathe rapidly, and your heart does not thump as if it 

 would break your ribs, or appear to get into your throat and half 

 choke you, then you have become a hardened hunter, and lost a 

 part of that nervous sensibility, which affords such exquisite 

 pleasure, if not too painful, for the line between these sensations 

 I know to be very thin. With the light upon your head you 

 cannot so well judge of distance as the Indian in the stern, so 

 leave that to him. 



The last time I was in such a place, — and it is not many 

 months since, — there broke out from the darkness four balls of 

 light, both deer evidently feeding a little way apart. The Indian 

 pulled first for the one on my right, and he dropped with a shot 

 in the neck close to the head. Immediately I cocked the other 

 lock for the one on the left, but when the gun came to the face I 

 could see nothing for the smoke, but the Indian understood his 

 work, and shot me out of the cloud of smoke in a fraction of a 

 second, and before the big doe could turn half round to jump the 

 bank, presenting the left hip, a shot in the loin, ranging far for- 

 ward, dropped her on the spot, and it took two men to pull her 

 out of the water and up that bank. They were a pretty pair as 

 they lay side by side, and the loud whoop of the Indian showed 

 that he thought it a well executed right and left. 



