144 BIG GAME OP NORTH AMERICA. 



me at all! ' Ike's 'if ' was as good as the dominie's, and it 

 was a fair reply." 



" Oh, yes," said Bates, "yon' 11 always have yonr story; 

 now we'll cut np the Deer." 



The truth was, he was right; the point of the shoulder 

 is always the shot for a Deer. The shoulder on both sides 

 is broken, the lungs and spine are penetrated, and the ani- 

 mal goes down at once. But then, he was my boy, and it 

 wouldn't do to give in. As Mr. Bagnet says, "Discipline 

 must be maintained." 



We drew the fine animal, put her on the mound for 

 notice when coming in with the horse, and resumed our 

 hunt in good heart over the good omen for the day. 



We now kept along the northern side of the ridge, the 

 southern being steep and quite bare, while our own side 

 was a long slope, and covered with all the woods that give 

 food and shelter to Deer. We had gone, perhaps, half a 

 mile, and were some four rods apart, my son just then 

 hidden in some thickets of mountain mahogany, when right 

 ahead of him a hundred yards I saw a fine Deer walking 

 rapidly down the hill-side. I drew up my rifle, but it was 

 passing four or five huge pines, and no sooner would I get 

 my sight to bear than a huge tree-trunk would come between 

 me and the game. I waited till it had passed the last tree, 

 and fired for the shoulder. It went heavily to the ground, 

 and floundered around as Deer always do when struck in 

 the shoulder. Bates said, in a low tone: 



"What now?" 



"I've got one, yonder," said I. 



When up from the hill-side, directly beyond my son 

 and over his head, sprang my Deer as lively as ever. I 

 fired again, and brought it down. As will sometimes hap- 

 pen, I could see distinctly the whitish parting of the hair 

 as the bullet struck the side. 



At that moment a Deer sprang up directly in front of 

 Bates, and not twenty feet away. He was taken by sur- 

 prise, fired a snap-shot, and missed. It came whirling 

 toward me, directly in my face, with the big Deer-dog close 



