128 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
to commence the chase. Never did oarsman more ener-, 
getically pull—never did race-horse more gallantly strug- 
gle; every thew, every muscle was brought into play, and 
what I lacked in skill was made up in vim. It, however, . 
took all the dusky gentleman’s skill to keep the craft’s head 
straight. For many minutes we did not appear to have 
gained an inch; the perspiration ran down my face, and , 
even lodged in my eyes; but there was no time for rest, no 
desire for respite; each succeeding stroke equaled its pred- 
ecessor in, strength. At length we commenced gaining— 
a further inducement to renewed exertion—and the paddle 
was dipped deeper, and handled still more swiftly. Inch 
by inch we crept up, at first slowly, then more rapidly, till 
but twenty yards severed the victim and the destroyer. I 
was about to drop my paddle and seize my gun, when’ Mas- 
ter Redskin informed me, “Not time yet!” On we ad- 
vanced; ten feet at most intervened. Mr. Chippewa gave: 
the desired permission, and as I pitched my gun to the 
shoulder he veered the canoe a point or two to the right. 
A sharp report followed, and the water boiled with the in- 
effectual efforts of the stricken animal. Quickly the birch- 
bark was shot up, and just as the deer was disappearing it 
was grabbed by the ear, and after several ineffectual efforts 
lifted-on board. Know you, reader, that a dead deer will 
sink; and although I remembered it not at the time of. 
drawing the trigger, my double-barrel was loaded with 
No. 6, which at that short range, and pointed at the back 
of the head, almost instantaneously destroyed vitality; and, 
however easy it may be to lift a heavy body into a boat, 
it is a different thing to bring a dead deer into a birch; 
canoe. : ; 
On our way to shore we picked up the hound, which: 
was taken. on board, and enjoyed himself by licking the 
blood that trickled from the shot-holes. Feeling fatigued 
