this search for the truth.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A QUAIL.

As the hound belonged to Sam Harper and showed a disposition to go with
him, he was allowed to do so, the lad moving off to the right and Nick
Ribsam to the left, as was agreed upon.

Nick had not his father's watch with him, but Herbert Watrous carried a
handsome gold hunting-piece, which was now consulted and showed it was
nearly two o'clock.

"The days are getting short," said Sam Harper, with a doubtful shake of
the head; "that doesn't leave us more than three hours of daylight, and
it is hardly worth while to part company."

"What's the odds?" laughed Nick, who was anxious to look for the deer;
"we won't be far apart, as we may be to-morrow."

And, without waiting to discuss the question, he struck to the left with
his strong step, the others following the courses already mentioned.

No afternoon could have been more charming, with the summer lingering
and mellowing the approaching winter.

The faint, smoky haze of the atmosphere, the clear sky, the warm sun,
the brilliant-hued vegetation in the woods, the faint cawing of crows in
the distance, and the flight of birds overhead, looking like
mathematical figures in India-ink gliding across the blue heavens, the
delicious languor everywhere: all these were at their best, and he who
was wandering through the rainbow-tinted forest, where the sleepy waters
flowed, could well understand why it was the pioneers, like Daniel
Boone, Simon Kenton, and others, turned their backs on civilization,
and, plunging into the wilderness, buried themselves for months from the
sight of their fellow-men.

Sam Harper was moving quietly toward the north, when it seemed to him
that a large leaf suddenly blew forward from beneath his feet and was
carried swiftly over the ground, straight ahead and away from him.

Looking closely, he discovered that it was a plump quail which he had
startled, and which was speeding from him. Although the bird has short
legs it runs very swiftly, and it was gone almost before Sam identified
it.

"Ah, if I could only get a shot at you," said the lad, his mouth fairly
watering, "what a splendid supper you would make!"

The words were yet in his mouth, when a sudden whirring sound broke the
air, and he caught a glimpse of a second quail flying like an arrow
below the principal limbs.

Sam raised his rifle as quick as a flash, took aim as best he could, and
fired. Even the great Dr.