THE ADIRONDACKS 81 
ready to bound away. The dry limbs of a prostrate 
tree were surely his antlers. 
But what are those two luminous spots? Need 
the reader to be told what they were? In a moment 
the head of a real deer became outlined; then his 
neck and foreshoulders; then his whole body. 
There he stood, up to his knees in the water, gazing 
fixedly at us, apparently arrested in the movement 
of putting his head down for a lily-pad, and evi- 
dently thinking it was some new-fangled moon 
sporting about there. “Let him have it,” said my 
prompter,—and the crash came. There was a 
scuffle in the water, and a plunge in the woods. 
“He’s gone,” said I. “Wait a moment,” said the 
guide, “and I will show you.” Rapidly running 
the canoe ashore, we sprang out, and, holding the 
jack aloft, explored the vicinity by its light. 
There, over the logs and brush, I caught the glim- 
mer of those luminous spots again. But, poor 
thing! there was little need of the second shot, 
which was the unkindest cut of all, for the deer 
had already fallen to the ground, and was fast 
expiring. The success was but a very indifferent 
one, after all, as the victim turned out to be only 
an old doe, upon whom maternal cares had evidently 
worn heavily during the summer. 
This mode of taking deer is very novel and 
strange. The animal is evidently fascinated or be- 
wildered. It does not appear to be frightened, but 
as if overwhelmed with amazement, or under the 
