p his hat, exclaiming,
"Hurrah! good luck to you, Masther David! Erin go bragh! We'll not be
afther starving at any rate."

On seeing him coming I descended from my perch. We greeted each other
with a hearty shake of the hands, as if we had been long absent. We
lost no time in skinning our game, cutting out the tongue, and as large
a portion of the haunch as we could carry.

Having prepared our loads, I was about to set off, when Pat exclaimed,
"Stay, Masther David; before we are back, the wolves or vultures will
have got hould of our mate. It's more than they desarve, the varmints."

Saying this, he carefully cut away the inside of the animal, and drew
forth a large bladder, which he emptied of its contents, and then blew
into it till it was inflated to the full. He then secured it by a thin
line drawn from the intestines, which he fastened to a branch overhead,
so that it hung vibrating in the breeze over the carcass, glittering
brightly as it slowly moved to and fro.

"That will keep the bastes away till we come back," he observed.

I rather doubted, however, the success of the experiment. We at once
returned to our camp, where we left our pot and Pat's useless gun, and
the few other articles we had brought with us. We soon got a fire
lighted, and our venison cooked, and a very hearty meal we made.

Having secured the meat inside the hut, before which we left the fire
blazing, we returned for a further supply, as we intended to dry enough
to last us for the time we should take to reach the fort.

As we approached the spot we saw numerous birds seated on the branches
of the surrounding trees, and at a short distance a dozen at least of
the smaller prairie-wolves. Both one and the other were evidently
scared by the glittering balloon.

Our shouts prevented the wolves from approaching, and allowed us plenty
of time to obtain a further supply of venison. More we could not have
carried with us even when dried, so we left the remainder of the carcass
to the birds and beasts of prey, who would certainly, after sunset,
pounce upon it.

Our first care on arriving at our camp was to cut the venison which we
did not require for immediate use into thin strips. These we proposed
drying in the sun and smoke, and then packing in as small a space as
possible to carry on our backs.

Thankful for our preservation, we lay down that night to sleep, hoping
that nothing would prevent us from continuing our journey on