He Was
The Largest Spotted Buck That I Ever Saw, And, Being Within Thirty
Paces, I Took A Flying Shot With The Right-Hand Barrel.
He faltered for
a moment, and I immediately fired the remaining barrel.
Still he
continued his course, but at a reduced speed and dead lame. Loading the
rifle, I soon got upon the blood-track, and I determined to hunt him
down.
There were many saplings in this part of the forest, and I noticed that
many of them in the deer's track were besmeared with blood about two
feet and a half from the ground. The tracks in the sandy soil were
uneven--one of the fore-feet showed a deep impression, while the other
was very faint, showing that he was wounded in the leg, as his whole
weight was thrown upon one foot. Slowly and cautiously I stalked along
the track, occasionally lying down to look under the bushes. For about
an hour I continued this slow and silent chase; the tracks became
fainter, and the bleeding appeared to have almost ceased; so few and far
between were the red drops upon the ground, that I was constantly
obliged to leave the gun-bearer upon the last trace, while I made a cast
to discover the next track. I was at length in despair of finding him,
and I was attentively scrutinising the ground for a trace of blood,
which would distinguish his track from those of other deer with which
the ground was covered, when I suddenly heard a rush in the underwood,
and away bounded the buck at about fifty yards' distance, apparently as
fresh as ever.
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