214 THE COLUMBIAN OR COAST DEER

deer. The ground was mossy and easy to walk on, so,
instead of going back for breakfast, my mind was made
up to spend another half-hour on the hillside. The half-
hour passed without any luck. Then another half-hour
went by, and not a single deer, either buck or doe, had
shown up, but there were such numbers of fresh tracks
that it seemed only a matter of a little perseverance to
find one. By this time I was annoyed at being beaten,
and determined to kill one or stay out all day, breakfast
or no breakfast.

For another hour I stole on and on, up over some hills,
around others, watching and listening, with rifle ready all
the time for quick shooting. Not having a watch with
me the time could only be guessed at, but somewhere
about nine o’clock it began to drizzle, and almost
immediately after I had noticed that there was a good
chance of my getting wet a two-year-old buck suddenly
jumped up from behind a log and, without making a
second’s pause, began to put as much distance between
us as he could manage with the aid of his best efforts,
He was succeeding fairly well, too, in his endeavours, but
unfortunately for him he made a mistake, which a white-
tail would never have done. He foolishly crossed a small
opening in the timber and gave me the chance I wanted.
The opening was not more than a few yards across, but
having my rifle ready it was enough for me to get my
sights on him somewhere and press the trigger. On just
what part of the buck’s anatomy my sights rested it was
impossible to tell or choose ; as soon as the sights rested
on the brown body the shot rang out. Even then the
shot was fired as he was disappearing and was a fraction
of a second too late to bring him down, though he was
hit and badly hurt.

From the way the buck flinched when the bullet struck
him it was evident he would not travel far if he were left
alone, so I sat down to give him time. The drizzle had
now changed to a steady rain, and though I managed to
find some shelter under a tree, it was not long before I
was wet through and too cold to wait as long as was