EPISODES 467 



hunter " is also called, through the interior of the tangled 

 woods, across morasses, ravines, and such places, where 

 the game may prove more or less plentiful, even should 

 none be found there in the first instance. We shall allow 

 our hunter all the agility, patience, and care which his 

 occupation requires, and will march in his rear, as if we 

 were spies, watching all his motions. 



His dress, you observe, consists of a leather hunting- 

 shirt, and a pair of trousers of the same material. His 

 feet are well moccasined ; he wears a belt round his waist ; 

 his heavy rifle is resting on his brawny shoulder; on one 

 side hangs his ball pouch, surmounted by the horn of an 

 ancient Buffalo, once the terror of the herd, but now con- 

 taining a pound of the best gunpowder; his butcher knife 

 is scabbarded in the same strap ; and behind is a toma- 

 hawk, the handle of which has been thrust through his 

 girdle. He walks with so rapid a step that probably few 

 men, beside ourselves, that is, myself and my kind reader, 

 could follow him, unless for a short distance, in their 

 anxiety to witness his ruthless deeds. He stops, looks to 

 the flint of his gun, its priming, and the leather cover of 

 the lock, then glances his eye towards the sky, to judge 

 of the course most likely to lead him to the game. 



The heavens are clear, the red glare of the morning 

 sun gleams through the lower branches of the lofty trees, 

 the dew hangs in pearly drops at the top of every leaf. 

 Already has the emerald hue of the foliage been converted 

 into the more glowing tints of our autumnal months. A 

 slight frost appears on the fence-rails of his little corn- 

 field. As he proceeds he looks to the dead foliage under 

 his feet, in search of the well-known traces of a buck's 

 hoof. Now he bends towards the ground, on which some- 

 thing has attracted his attention. See ! he alters his course, 

 increases his speed, and will soon reach the opposite hill. 

 Now he moves with caution, stops at almost every tree, 

 and peeps forward, as if already within shooting distance 



