Grenfell could not fail to see it.

Then he took up the repeating rifle, and lurching down-hill plunged
into the forest. Both the black-tail deer and the mule-deer are to be
met with in that country, but, somewhat strange to say, they are, as a
rule, more plentiful round the smaller settlements than in the
wilderness, and they are always singularly difficult to see. The
inexperienced sportsman cannot invariably discern one when it is
pointed out to him, and the bush deer very seldom stand silhouetted
against the sky. Their pale tinting blends with that of the fir trunks
and the tall fern, and they seem to recognize the desirability of
always having something near them that breaks their continuity of
outline. Besides, to hunt in the thick bush needs the keenest powers
of observation of both ear and eye, and an infinite patience, of which
a worn-out, famishing white man is very rarely capable. When one steps
on a dry twig, or sets a thicket crackling, it is necessary to lie
still for minutes, or to make a long detour before again taking up the
line of approach to a likely spot; and that morning Weston blundered
noisily into many an obstacle. His eyes were unusually bright and
fiercely keen, but his worn-out limbs would not quite obey him.

He lay still among the undergrowth about the rocky places where the
deer come out to sun themselves clear of the dew-wet fern, and crawled
into quaggy swamps where the little black bear feeds, but he could
find no sign of life. When he strained his ears to listen there was
only the sound of falling water or the clamor of a hidden creek. Sight
was of almost as little service among those endless rows of towering
trunks, between which the tall fern and underbrush sprang up. There
was no distance, scarcely even an alternation of light and shadow. The
vision was narrowed in and confused by the unchanging sameness of the
great gray colonnade.

Still, Weston persisted in his search; though it was not patience but
the savageness of desperation that animated him. He would not go back
empty-handed, if he struggled on until he dropped.

It was late in the afternoon before his search was rewarded. He had
reached a strip of slightly clearer ground when he heard a faint
rustle, and he stiffened suddenly in strung-up attention. There was,
he remembered, a great hemlock close behind him, but he recognized
that any movement might betray his presence, and, standing very still,
he slowly swept his e