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1M0S\ THE MIGHTY HUNTER 



221 



was one old buck with the finest pair 

 of horns he ever seen ! He waits till he 

 gits right up clost broadside to him, 

 and he shoots, and he never touches a 

 hair ! He stood there lookin' at the car- 

 ibou, and the caribou lookin' at him. 

 He hadn't a mite of powder — he'd made 

 me carry it for him. Then he sneaks 

 away and when he gits back the caribou 

 is gone ! How he did tear around and 

 abuse me ! He couldn't be reasonable 

 at all. I told him to carry his own am- 

 munition next time. 



"I was still kinder sore on him when 

 we goes out one night to watch for 

 beaver. We went to the dam, and set 

 to watch till they come out to fix it. 

 While we were watchin' we sees there 

 was another dam above, with a house, 

 and he says he'll go up to that dam 

 and watch for them as they come over, 

 while I stays at this one. He was goin' 

 to take the best chanst, and give me the 

 poorest ! I watched there a little while, 

 till the water where w r e cut the dam 'd 

 fell about a foot, when I sees a little 

 white wake comin', and I knows that's 

 a beaver. I didn't know how to shoot 

 beaver then ; so I aims at the point of 

 the wake, and fires. Down goes the 

 beaver, and up comes his tail, and that 

 was the last of the beaver. Well, the 

 feller comes runnin' down all excited, 

 and says, 'Did you git him ?' 'No,' says I. 



" 'Well, what did you want to shoot 

 and miss him for?' 



" T done my best,' says I. 

 'You've no business to shoot and 

 miss him !' says he, and he blustered 

 around as mad as he could be. 'Now, 

 that one '11 go and tell all the others 

 and we won't git one !' 



"Just that minute what happens but 

 up comes another beaver. The beaver 

 hears the talkin' and splash ! down he 

 goes. Then the feller was mad for 

 sure. 'Look at that!' says he, 'we've 

 lost that one, too !' 



"I says I couldn't see that it was any 

 of my fault. 



" 'Yes it is, too ! If you hadn't shot 

 and missed the first one, I wouldn't 

 have had to take on, and the beaver 

 wouldn't have heard us !' ' 



Amos's face took on an expression 

 that showed his troubles were not break- 

 ing him down. But Amos is a patient 

 man. 



"I didn't say nothin', and we went 

 down below the dam. The dam was as 

 much as four feet high, and we sat 

 there looking over the edge into the 

 pond. Pretty soon, up comes another 

 beaver, and he come down swimmin' 

 high, his back all out of water. He 

 swum to one side and took a look, and 

 then he swum the other way and took 

 a look, and then he come down towards 

 us ! He couldn't see us, we was jist 

 behind the dam. He passed me first ; 

 he was so clost I would have poked 

 him with a gun, but I jist let him go 

 past me. Oh, he was a purty shot, all 

 out of the water, and his tail out flat. 

 I was goin' to let the other fellow take 

 him. Well, he never touched it ! 



"I was glad of that ! I didn't mind 

 the loss of the beaver at all, I w T as that 

 tickled to think that after all his talk 

 he had missed the beaver. Some time 

 after that he says to me, T don't see 

 how I did that.' Says I, 'It must have 

 been that the bullet described a circle. 

 I couldn't see no other way.' But he 

 was that conceited he couldn't see the 

 fun of it at all, and I never let on — but 

 I was tickled ! 



"Tom Slows, up here, kept wantin' 

 me to go out with him ; he had been at 

 me a long time to take him out to shoot 

 a caribou. Tom had never shot a cari- 

 bou, and he wanted one the worst way. 

 Tom isn't much of a. hunter; he is 

 comical enough anyway, but you'd 

 laugh to see him in the woods. T guess 

 there isn't much huntin' over in the old 

 country,' I says to Tom. All Tom 

 wanted was for me to show him the 

 caribou, and he would shoot it. We 

 went out, it was the spring of the year, 

 and snow deep. We were gone five 

 days. I showed Tom a caribou every 

 day, but Tom couldn't seem' to hit any- 

 thing. 



"We came one time to a small dead- 

 waters, frozen over, and there was a 

 narrow bit of clear space each side, and 

 then the thick woods. When we got 



