118 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
spirits, and, but that we struck a more open range of coun- 
try, where the traveling was better, doubtless we would 
have given up. However, being in the vicinity of our 
ponies, we determined to continue the pursuit on horse- 
back, hoping to get a view, in crossing some opening, where 
we could give the buck a run of a few minutes, with the 
expectation that a sharper gait might break him down; 
but luck continued adverse. Time was rapidly gliding by, 
a few hours more would bring on night, and, as far as we 
could see, the prospect of a termination was as distant as 
ever. Want of success or fatigue made us careless, and as 
we slowly wended our unthankful way—first one in front, 
then the other, talking aloud, deploring our misfortune, and 
paying but little attention to the surroundings, unsports- 
man-like on such an occasion—my pony (for I was in-front) 
suddenly shied, turning almost completely round, and at 
the same time brought me excessively near getting a spill. 
And what do you imagine was the cause of this want of 
propriety in so experienced a steed? Simply this: the deer 
had lain down, and we had almost ridden over him. To 
wheel round and try to bring my gun to bear was the work 
of a few seconds, but all my exertions and rapidity of mo- 
tion were thrown away. The pony would not stand still; 
he had evidently been frightened, or perhaps was still in 
ignorance of what caused the alarm. Moreover, my ma- 
neuvring so directly intervened between my friend and 
the game that, for fear of peppering me, he dared not fire. 
To turn round and look at one another, first sulkily, but 
afterward to burst into a roar of laughter at the absurdity 
of the whole thing, was the result, each agreeing that the 
buck had well earned his safety, and that two such awk- 
ward devils had no right to a feast of venison resulting from 
that hunt, and therefore we had better acknowledge that we 
were beaten handsomely, and that by a buck on three legs. 
