and every evening, I need not repeat it
again. Jacob then showed them again how to clean the house, and
Humphrey and Alice soon finished their work under his directions; and
then they all sat down to breakfast, which was a very plain one, being
generally cold meat, and cakes baked on the embers, at which Alice was
soon very expert; and little Edith was very useful in watching them for
her, while she busied herself about her other work. But the venison was
nearly all gone; and after breakfast Jacob and Edward, with the dog
Smoker, went out into the woods. Edward had no gun, as he only went out
to be taught how to approach the game, which required great caution;
indeed Jacob had no second gun to give him, if he had wished so to do.

"Now, Edward, we are going after a fine stag, if we can find him--which
I doubt not--but the difficulty is to get within shot of him. Recollect
that you must always be hid, for his sight is very quick; never be
heard, for his ear is sharp; and never come down to him with the wind,
for his scent is very fine. Then you must hunt according to the hour of
the day. At this time he is feeding; two hours hence he will be lying
down in the high fern. The dog is of no use unless the stag is badly
wounded, when the dog will take him. Smoker knows his duty well, and
will hide himself as close as we do. We are now going into the thick
wood ahead of us, as there are many little spots of cleared ground in it
where we may find the deer; but we must keep more to the left, for the
wind is to the eastward, and we must walk up against it. And now that
we are coming into the wood, recollect, not a word must be said, and you
must walk as quietly as possible, keeping behind me. Smoker, to heel!"
They proceeded through the wood for more than a mile, when Jacob made a
sign to Edward, and dropped down into the fern, crawling along to an
open spot, where, at some distance, were a stag and three deer grazing.
The deer grazed quietly, but the stag was ever and anon raising up his
head and snuffing the air as he looked round, evidently acting as a
sentinel for the females.

The stag was perhaps a long quarter of a mile from where they had
crouched down in the fern. Jacob remained immovable till the animal
began to feed again, and then he advanced crawling through the fern,
followed by Edward and the dog, who dragged himself on his stomach after
Edward. This tedious approach was continued for some time, and t