joillie said, as did my father. Captain Norton
expressed the hope that we were right, though he had not had sufficient
intercourse with his cousin to judge of his opinions.

I need not say I was very glad to roll myself in my blanket as soon as
supper was over, and to fall fast asleep. I should, I believe, have
slept on far into the next day, had I not been aroused by my father, who
handed me a mug of coffee, some wild duck, and corn-cake for breakfast.
Directly afterwards, the march was resumed. We were unable to obtain
any game during the first part of the day, and were truly glad when, in
the afternoon, we came in sight of the thickly-growing trees of an
extensive hummock. As it was important to obtain food, the men were
halted at some distance from its border, while my father, Lejoillie, and
I, with Tim and three or four of the best shots of the party, made our
way as best we could amid the dense brushwood, in the hopes of getting a
shot at some deer or any other game which might be taking shelter there.
Pushing on through hydrangeas and azaleas, with lofty cabbage-palms,
cotton, cedar, and other trees above our heads, festooned with
wild-vines, convolvuli, air-plants, and numberless other creepers, Tim
and I, who were ahead, at length saw before us a small pool.

"Hist, Mr. Maurice!" he whispered; "I jist caught sight of something
moving. We must creep up carefully. Maybe it's a painter, or an
ocelot, or, what would be better, a deer; an' if we can escape the
creature windin' us, we may git up near enough to have a fair shot, for
it won't be you or I that'll be afther missin'."

I followed his advice, eager to obtain the game, and trusting none of
our party would approach incautiously. In the meantime, by creeping
slowly on, we at length came close to the pool, which was almost filled
up with grass and water-lilies. Lifting up our heads, to our infinite
satisfaction, we saw a doe and her young one standing in the water, into
which they had evidently gone to drink. At the same moment a heron,
with a loud cry, rose from the sedgy banks; and the deer, as if its note
had been one of warning, turned her head towards where we were.

"Fire at the mother," I whispered to Tim; "I'll take the fawn."

We pulled our triggers, and almost at the same moment a third shot was
heard at a distance; a bullet splashing the water close to where the
deer stood, but hitting neither of the animals.

Both deer fell, however,