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 sufficiently 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. 
