the country. He went along with the quick, yet
cautious and noiseless, step of a hunter accustomed to the woods from
infancy. His thoughts were busy within him, and far away from the scene
in which he moved; yet, such is the force of habit, he never for a
moment ceased to cast quick, inquiring glances on each side as he went
along. Nothing escaped his observation.

"Oh, if I could only get a deer this day," thought he, "how scrumptious
it would be!"

What he meant by "scrumptious" is best known to himself, but at that
moment a large deer suddenly--perhaps scrumptiously!--appeared on the
brow of a ridge not fifty yards in advance of him. They had been both
walking towards each other all that forenoon. Roy, having no powers of
scent beyond human powers, did not know the fact, and as the wind was
blowing from the deer to the hunter, the former--gifted though he was
with scenting powers--was also ignorant of the approaching meeting.

One instant the startled deer stood in bewildered surprise. One instant
Roy paused in mute amazement. The next instant the deer wheeled round,
while Roy's gun leaped to his shoulder. There was a loud report,
followed by reverberating echoes among the hills, and the deer lay dead
on the snow.

The young hunter could not repress a shout of joy, for he not only had
secured a noble stag, but he had now a sufficiency of food to enable him
to resume his homeward journey.

His first impulse was to run back to the hut with the deer's tongue and
a few choice bits, to tell Nelly of his good fortune; but, on second
thoughts, he resolved to complete the business on which he had started.
Leaving the deer where it fell he went on, and found that the snares had
been very successful. Some, indeed, had been broken by the strength of
the boughs to which they had been fastened, and others remained as he
had set them; but above two-thirds of them had each a rabbit hung up by
the neck, so that the sled was pretty well loaded when all the snares
had been visited.

He had by this time approached the spot where the bear-trap was set, and
naturally began to grow a little anxious, for, although his chance of
success was very slight, his good fortune that morning had made him more
sanguine than usual.

There is a proverb which asserts that "it never rains but it pours." It
would seem to be a common experience of mankind that pieces of good
fortune, as well as misfortunes, come not singly. Whether the