a 
Dec, 25, 1884.) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
423 
| The Sportsman Courist. 
HOW THEY KILLED A DEER. 
bb \ \ J ® haye had such good practice with that air gun 
that 1am sure we could do it! And Helen you are 
You hit the bullseye five times this morn- 
a yery good shot. 
nig.’ 
“Yes, out of fifty shots, I don’t think my target looked 
as well as yours, Meg.”’ 
“Still, on the whole, I think we made rather the best shots 
of the day, don’t you, Mr. Furman?’ 
An odd little smile crept into the face of the gentleman 
who lay on the grass at their feet, and he pulled his soft hat 
lower over the laugh in his eyes before he answered. 
“You are both good shots, young ladies, and I will gladly 
take you out to-night if you will only consent to go. I think 
it very likely you may get a shot, as the deer seem more than 
plentiful about here.” 
“Oh I should like it of all things, But what will your 
mother say, Helen? And my sister? Will they let us go?” 
“T think I can manage that,” interposed the diplomatic 
Furman, ‘Wear the thickest gowns you have with you, 
take plenty of wraps, and a flask of whisky in case you get 
chilled. and be ready at 8 o’clock.” 
“Oh, won’t it be perfectly delivhtful!” exclaimed Meg with 
a little quiver of ecstacy as she and Helen Heath walked off 
toward the house. ‘‘Meacham is always lovely, but to think 
of going on a genuine deer hunt with Mr. Furman! Isn’t it 
just too good of him to take us? Do you think he can man- 
age it with your mother and Kate? And what are we to do 
for suns?” 
‘Meg Davenport, hush! You’ye asked me three questions 
and haven’t given mea chance to answer one. I protest, 
Isn’i it too good of Mr. Furman? No, for he will enjoy it 
as much as we, or he wouldn’t have asked us. Do I think 
we shall be allowed to go by the powers. that be? Yes, Ido. 
For mamma and Mrs. Carter both like Mr. Furman, and 
know he is quite competent to take care of us. What shall 
wedofor guns? Well, [think we may safely leave that 
detail in our escort’s hands. He knows we can’t shoot with 
walking sticks or umbrellas, and as he has invited us to go 
he will probably get rifles for us somewhere.” 
“Helen, vou are so superior! Do you really think we may 
get a deer?” 
“Why not? It never seemed to mea very difficult thing 
to rew up to a deer and put a bullet in him somewhere. But 
you mustn’t get the buck fever, Mey.” 
“What's that? Oh,I know. You mean I mustn’t get ex- 
cited just aslam going to fire, and Jet my hand tremble. 
No, indeed. Ishall be as coolas any cucumber. You will 
see, I feel in my bones that we are going to get one deer. 
How do you suppose they look when one first catches sight 
of them in the night?” 
‘Well, I believe one only sees the eyes, and they look like 
balls of fire. Isun’t that what they told us?” ; 
‘Yes, soitis, Just fancy aiming in the darkness at two 
halls of fire, Helen! We must keep very cool!” 
Meacham Lake is one of the loveliest of the Adirondack 
sheets of water, Nestled down between the thickly-clad old 
mountains, its blue waves are forever restlessly whispering 
the secrets of the wood-creatures that inhabit the side forests, 
betraying them, or so it seemed, to the cruel knowledge of 
the lucky hunters, who counted their “bags” each day, and 
their frequent bucks with uever a thought of pity. 
All summer a merry party had been gathered at the old- 
fashioned and comfortable little inn at the end of the lake, 
' and when the deer season opened it found them familiar 
enough with each other to feel like one big family in the 
comparative isolation of the woods’ life, with only an occa- 
sional mail bringing news from the outside world, Helen 
Heath and Meg Davenport were two schoolgirl friends who 
had induced their respective chaperons to take them to the 
same summer resort, that their friendship begun in school 
might continue in the mountains.) They were bright, attrac- 
tive girls, with all the vyivacity of seventeen years and always 
ready for what they called a lark. Mr. Wallis and Mr. 
Rodgers, two juniors from Harvard College, and Mr. Fur- 
man, a student of the Harvard Law School, evidently found 
it worth their while to devise amusement for these compliant 
young ladies, and the five soon became the center of much 
sport, which was continued through the long, lazy summer 
days and moonlit evenings, But when the deer season be- 
gan the girls found themselves deserted, even their bright 
faces sinking into insignificance before the huntsman’s in- 
stinct, For four nights now every Nimrod bad been seek- 
ing deer, and as yet none had been shot. The return of the 
gentlemen in the morning had, therefore, become the signal 
for many jeers aud gibes from the feminine part of the 
household, and Miss Davenport had been heard to observe 
derisively that last morning that if the ladies could but get 
an opportunity to go out the long-talked-of buck would be 
secured and venison would be provided for the table, his 
was too much for the gallantry of the young collegians, and 
after a short consultation together Mr. Kurman was chosen 
eed the invitation, which was accepted, as has been 
told. 
The day wore on, and evening came at last. No moon- 
light, but clear and starlit. The girls were ready promptly, 
and the trio started off in high spirits, having been accom- 
panied to the little wharf by the entire party, anxious Mrs, 
Heath adding an extra shawl] to the boat load already there, 
laughing Mrs. Carter tying a third silk handkerchief about 
Meg's throat, which had a reputation for delicacy, and a 
third friend administering good advice in large quantities, 
“Are your guns loaded?” shouted Mr, Wallis as the boat 
pushed off. 
“All right,” answered Mr. Furman; and Mr. Rodgers 
could not resist one parting flmg. ‘Remember, we shall 
expect a buck at the very least, perhaps two. Don’t fail to 
fire just as soon as you see the eyes, Miss Helen !” 
“Are we to fire together, Mr. Furman?” asked Meg, as 
the increasing distance made any further comments from 
the wharf useless. 
“Yes, I think so. One of you will wear the jack-lantern, 
and both can be ready to shoot. That will give you a 
double chance at the deer.” 
“Oh, how Lhope we shall see one! Do you think we 
will?” cried enthusiastic Meg, giving a little start of delight 
from among her shawls. 
“Not a doubt of it. You know there havé been at least 
a half dozen seen this week, Only we haven't been able to 
pet a good shot at any.” 
“Pooh! That's only an excuse. Own up, now, Mr, Fur- 
man, that you are all yery poor shots anyway!” 
eS le oe 
Mr. Furman laughed. ‘Well, we are quite willing to 
give you the honor if you earn it, Miss Meg.” , 
“The worst of it is we must keep so dreadfully still,” 
added Meg sadly. 
“Yes, that is a trial for you,” answered Helen. 
On reaching the mouth of the winding inlet the boat was 
run upon the shore and the long oars exchanged for a more 
easily wielded paddle, Then Helen, who was supposed to 
be the cooler of the two Dianas and least likely to become 
nervous, allowed Mr. Furman to fasten the lighted jack 
firmly on her head before she took her place in the bow of 
the boat. Then their guide took his place in the stern, put- 
ting Meg between ona pile of shawls. Each girl had her 
tifle lying across her lap, but grasped in both hands to be 
ready on the instant, Thus they started up the inlet in the 
silence and the darkness, the former broken only by an occa- 
sional hoarse-voice bullfrog, and the latter by the single 
gleaming thread of light thrown forward on the water by 
the odd little lantern, which felt so heavy and queer on 
Helen’s head, but which enabled Mr. Furman to steer so 
quietly up the narrow twisting stream. How ghostly the 
half-closed water lilies looked as the light fell on them for 
an instant. How queer and unreal the low bushes where an 
occasional bird chirped sleepily, How the wind sighed 
through the tops of the tall pine trees near by, and hark! 
What was that? A deer whistling in the distance? No, 
only a hermit-thrush piping his high single note far away. 
Suddenly a loud “‘Who-00-00” close to them on the bank 
makes Meg start violently and raise her rifle, until a low 
whisper behind her says, “An owl,” and she sinks back 
chagrined, for she is sure she hears Mr. Furman laughing, 
and Helen has been too wise to stir. On again into the dark- 
ness, not too much startled even by the lusty water rat who 
makes a tremendous splash just under their bows, and after 
that the silence remains so long unbroken that Meg’s eyes 
begin to fall sleepily together, and even Helen thinks regret- 
fully of bed, when the promised signal wakes them both 
instantly and decidedly, Itis one shake of the light boat 
which the girls well understand to mean, ‘“‘Look to. the 
right!” They are just rounding a little point. Can it be 
that their hunt is to be successful at last? And two hearts 
beat like trip-hammers, so loud they seem audible to the 
excited owners, : 
A rustle in the grass—the jack-light is turned by Helen’s 
steady gaze toward the slight noise, and there—yes there are 
the two burning eyes of the deer! 1 
Neither Helen nor Meg will ever know how they got their 
rifles to their shoulders and fired, but they did almost simul- 
taneously and the shots were followed by a violent trampling, 
a startled snort, and the instant disappearance of the eyes. 
“We've hit him!” shouted Meg, no longer able to keep 
silent, ‘I know we've hit him! Oh, let us go ashore and see, 
quick, Mr. Furman!” 
‘Not a doubt about it,” said their guide. ‘‘No deer ever 
makes a noise like that unless he is hit. He’s probably back 
in the bushes a little way.” 
So saying he ran the boat on to the marshy bank and bor- 
rowing Helen’s jack dashed into the bushes. 45te 
His absence seemed an age to the breathless girls in the 
boat who sat congratulating each other in low tones upon 
their success and prowess, and each repeating for the 
hundredth time an account of just how she felt at the 
critical moment. 
“But didn’t we aim well, Helen, in spite of our excite- 
ment? Oh, lam so proud of us!” 
‘Wait till we hear if we have really killed him, Meg,” 
added her more cautious friend. ‘‘Don’t crow too soon.”’ 
“Oh, 1am sure we must have hit him! You know—but 
here he comes!” With an entire disregard of pronouns. 
Then addressing her questions eagerly to Mr. Furman who 
now appeared. ; 
“Ts he dead? Did you get him? Where is he?” 
Mr. Furman returned the jack light to Miss Heath and 
answered in a disappointed tone; 
“TJ am confident that he must have been killed. But it’s 
so dark and the brush so thick in there,that I can’t find him 
in the night. He has, perhaps been able to creep a little way 
before dying, and I willcome back with the guides in the 
morning and get him,” 
“Poor thing!” {can’t bear to think we must leave him 
perhaps wounded and suffering! I would rather never haye 
shot him.” 
There was a slight pause which neither of the excited 
girls noticed before the gentleman replied. ‘‘You need not 
feel badly about that, Miss Davenport. He is sure to be dead 
by this time or I should have heard him, We'll haye him in 
the morning.” 
Their last doubt set at rest, and they themselves only 
anxious to hasten home and relate their adventures and suc- 
cess, Meg and Helen were in wild spirits all the way, and 
covered Mr. Furman with admiring thanks for his aid, be- 
sides calling upon him to witness that the ladies were evi- 
dently better shots and possessed of stronger nerves than 
the gentlemen who had failed so often to get the deer. 
“Yes,” said their meek guide, ‘‘you shall have all the 
credit of the first buck.” 
“TY hope it isa buck! Who'll have the horns? You may, 
Helen, and I'll take the feet for a fishing-rod rack; they are 
so pretty.” 
And so aided by wind and current and hastened by the 
occupants’ strong desire to get home and be praised, the 
light canoe flew over the dark water. But the exultant 
party reached the house at midnight, only to find that those 
who had heen left to wait had not been cager enough to sit 
up two hours beyond the primitive retirmg time in the 
mountains in order to hear the result of the expedition. 
But this little disappointing delay only added to their plea- 
sure on the following morning, when they found themselves 
the center of an admiring group, all listening to the detailed 
account of how the deer appeared, was shot, and disap- 
peared; and congratulations were generously showered upon 
them by the unsuccessful gentlemen. ‘‘Where was it?” in- 
quired Mr. Wailis, with marked eagerness. ‘‘Let’s go there 
ourselves to-night,” added Mr. Rodgers, quickly. 
“Ah, you’ll not get another!” cried Meg, and Helen said, 
‘“No, we have killed the whole family. He was a widower.” 
“Well, at least,” was the humble answer, “I suppose we 
may go with Furman to bring home your buck,” 
“Oh, certainly! And the sooner the better. We are crazy 
to see him. I wonder where he was shot?” 
“In the head, probably, You know we only saw his 
eyes.” 
“‘That’s all they ever see, I understand, and the deer is 
often wounded in the legs, Meg! You seem to think we are 
‘regular Creedmoor shots!” 
But poor Meg’s pride and delight were destined to have a 
very serious tall, for when the three gentlemen returned from 
i 
aa a a aa aaa aaa ETnnnEatanmenememeseseeeeeeee eee - 
the inlet just before dinner, instead of a triumphal procession 
bearing a huge buck with them, they appeared empty-handed 
to report to the crestfallen amazons that they had hunted far 
and wide but found no deer. 
“But we saw where the grass was trampled down, and 
Where some heavy body had lain. You must have either 
wounded or killed him, and perhaps he has been dragged off 
by bears. They say there are lots of them around here, and 
they're only too glad to get a chance at a dead or wounded 
buck.” 
Thus Mr. Furman consoled them, but Helen and Meg 
were deeply chagrined for the whole afternoon, at the end 
of which time they agreed to adopt the consoling theory, and 
went back to New York in the fall confidently announcing 
to all their friends that they had had the honor of killing the 
first buck of the season. (‘I think if must haye been a 
buck,” said Meg to Helen. ‘‘And you know that sounds so 
much grander.”) That the bears and not they had en- 
joyed that venison they did not consider a fact worth men- 
tioning, 
The spring holidays found Helen and Meg paying a visit 
to the latter’s aunt in Boston, who kindly included both the 
girls in the invitation; and the delights of the historic and 
beautiful old city were more keenly appreciated because the 
two girls enjoyed them together. 
Mrs. Maynard’s warm and old-fashioned hospitality brougk 
many peopleto meet her young guests, and among them all 
the girls fancied none so much as a certain young and 
charming Mrs. Ashworth, who was so beautiful, so accom- 
plished, so much of a social light, that Helen and Meg con- 
ceived a real schoolgirl’s admiration for her and were content 
to sit in admiring silence whenever an opportunity offered to 
listen to her conversation. 
On one occasion the idle talk of a morning visit turned 
upon summer life in the woods, and the young ladies were 
just about to tell of their experiences at Meacham, when 
their attention wascalled to a newly-arrived note of invita- 
tion demanding an immediate reply and for which they were 
obliged to excuse themselves for a few moments’ consulta- 
tion, On their return to the room Mrs. Ashworth was say- 
ing: 
‘‘And the best of it all is that the whole thing was a prac- 
tical joke. Jack’s friends, Mr, Wallis and Mr. Rodgers, 
had determined to give these boastful little girls a lesson 
because they had laughed so much at them for their ill-luck 
with the deer. So when the boat started from the house 
those two absurd fellows went round by the road, and at 
some point—the Inlet I believe they call it—pre-arranged 
with Jack, they stood with their lighted cigars in their 
mouths and their heads and faces covered with dark veils, 
so that all the light of the little lantern revealed were these 
two sparks of fire. These the poor, deluded girls took for 
deer’s eyes, having ben previously told to watch tor just 
such an apparition, and then you know they went back 
boasting of their buck!” 
“But { should think, Mrs. Ashworth, it would hardly 
have been safe to let them fire, though of course I don’t sup- 
pose they could have hit anything.” 
“Oh, the gentlemen arranged all that. The rifles were 
loaded with blank cartridges before the party left the house, 
so there was no question of shooting, you see, at all, And 
Jack said it was so funny to hear these girls telling how 
they felt when they heard their bullets hissing through the 
air, and knew that they had really killed a deer! He said 
too that he was almost sorry for the joke at one time. when 
one of the young deer slayers began to pity tle ‘‘poor 
wounded creature.” I believe if it had not been tor spoiling 
the others’ joke he might have told them then. But he did 
not, and they never knew and never will. Quite a good 
practical joke, wasn’t it, young ladies?” turning to Meg and 
Helen, who had suddenly become strangely interested in 
their embroidery. 
Meg did not raise her flushed face, but after an instant of 
hesitation Helen looked up calmly and replied: “Excellent. 
Did the young men share their joke wilh all the others at 
this place? Were the girls laughed at by everybody?” 
“Oh, no, indeed! Jack said they were such nice girls, | 
only a little vain on afew points, and this joke was kept 
entirely among the three gentlemen.” 
“Tam glad to hear that, for the sake of the poor foolish 
girls. Perhaps they will learn in time not to be vain any 
more of that deer they killed in the Adirondacks.” 
Meg and Helen never relate the story of their deer hunt to 
any more admiring audiences, They are ro longer vain of 
being ‘‘good shots.” And they both decline venison on 
principle. Gene H. UNDER Woop, 
OrraAwA Firetp Natrorauists’ Cuus.—The winter pro- 
sramme of the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club for the season 
of 1884-5 has just been issued. The arrangement for after: 
noon lectures, to be held in the Museum of the Ottawa Lit- 
erary and Scientific Society, every Monday afternoon at 
4:15, is as follows: Jan, 12, 19 and 26, Prof. J. Macoun 
will lecture on botany; on Feb. 2, 9 and 15, Mr. Willimott 
will speak on mineralogy; Feb. 23 Mr. W. L. Scott will 
devote to ornithology; March 1 Mr. Harrington will lecture 
on entomology; March 8 conchology will be treated by Mr. 
Latchford, and March 15 zoology by Mr. Small, These 
lectures are open to the general public on payment of ten 
cents, and are free to members of the club and of the Ottawa 
Literary and Scientific Society. Atthe meetings for the 
winter the following topics will be brought up: Dee. 4, 
1884, Report of Entomological Branch of the Society by 
Messrs. Fletcher and Harrington as leaders. Dec. 18, the 
Canadian Otter, by Mr. Lett, and report of botanical branch 
by Mr. R. B. Whyte and Prof. Macoun, Jan. 15, 1885, Mr. 
Willimott will read a paper on the Minerals of the Ottawa 
District, and Messrs. Scott and G. R. White will give the 
Report of the Ornithological Branch; Feb. 5, Mr. Latch- 
ford will speak on Our Terrestrial Mollusca, and Messrs. 
Small and Lett will read the Report of the Zoological Branch; 
Feb. 19, Mr. W. Scott will lecture on Wheat, and Messrs. 
Willimott and Anderson will report on mineralogy, and Mr, 
Billings on geology, March 4 Mr. Harrington will read a 
paper on Our Sawflies and Horktails, Mr. Billings one on 
Our Trenton Fossils, and Messrs. Latchford and Poirier will 
read the Report of the Conchological Branch. The annual 
meeting will be held March 16 at4 P.M. The meetings 
above referred to, except when otherwise stated, will be 
held in the Museum of the Ottawa Literary and Scientific 
Society on the above dates, commencing at 8 P. M. pune- 
tually. In addition to the papers advertised, notes for pub- 
lication, upon all subjects connected with the work of tle 
club, may be read by members at any of the above meetings, 
There will also be specimens on exhibition and microscopes 
for the examination of special structures and minute organ- 
isms. 
