s charged
with killing it. I said nothing in regard to the charge, for I had
now made up my mind to kill it if I could. One day three or four
weeks after I had made the wager, Mr. Abison came to me and handed me
two dollars and said that the Judge had got his money and told him to
give me my money back as he (the Judge) did not want to take the
money, that I had killed the white deer all right.

Now I was quite positive that the Judge had learned that the white
deer was still alive. I had heard that the white deer had again been
seen in a field near town. Now this made me all the more determined
to kill the white deer. I will explain that I had learned that
several of the sportsmen of Coudersport, the Judge included, had had
dogs after the white deer several times the previous fall, but it so
happened that there were no watchers at the place where the deer came
to the creek.

That fall as soon as the first snow fell I went after the deer. I did
not strike the trail until quite late in the afternoon, and as the
deer left the woods where it had been accustomed to staying and went
into the big woods farther south, I left the trail for that day. I
would have got a shot at the deer if my attention had not been called
in the wrong direction by the chirping of several blue jays which I
thought were excited over the presence of the white deer.

I was working the trail to the best of my ability and knew that I was
close to the game, when my attention was drawn by the chirping of
those blue jays which were down the side of a hill. I was working the
trail so as to be on vantage ground and could see from where I was
standing that the trail had turned slightly down the hill along the
side of a fallen tree and in the direction of the chirping of the
jays. This led me to think that the jays were scolding the deer, so I
cautiously advanced a few steps down the hill, expecting every moment
to see the deer. While I was watching down the hill, I heard a slight
noise to my right and partly behind me. I looked in the direction in
which the noise came from and was surprised to catch a glimpse of the
deer jumping the log near where I had last seen the trail. The log
hid the deer from my sight so that I was unable to get a shot at it.
The deer had lain down close to the log, and had I taken a few more
steps in the direction I was going instead of giving attention to the
jays I would have seen the deer and made my word good the first time.