.

Five, ten minutes he employed in making his "creep," but he found that
it was time well spent; for as he finally reached the spot he had been
aiming for, he discovered a deer within easy gunshot, calmly feeding.

Phil repressed any emotion that would have overcome a greenhorn at the
fine prospect for a shot. He saw that the animal was a bit suspicious,
since it frequently raised its head to sniff the air, and look timidly
around.

That meant a quick shot, while the chance remained. Once the animal
took the alarm it would bound away on wings of fear; and Phil knew that
it was not so easy to hit a leaping deer, especially when trees and
scrub intervened.

So he raised his Marlin at a time when the deer's head was lowered.
Perhaps even this cautious movement may have stirred some leaf, for he
saw that graceful head quickly raised. The deer was looking straight
at him.

"Bang!"

No sooner had Phil fired than he sent the empty shell flying with one
swift movement of the forearm; and by another action brought a fresh
shell into place. Thus he was instantly ready to shoot again, so
marvelously did the clever mechanism of the up-to-date firearm work.

No second shot, however, was needed. One look convinced the young
Nimrod of that pleasant fact. The deer had fallen, and seemed to be
kicking its last on the grass.

Phil hastily advanced, still holding his gun in readiness for instant
action in case of necessity; for he had heard of wounded deer jumping
up, and in a rage attacking the hunter.

When he reached the side of his quarry, however, the last movement had
ceased; and Phil knew he had secured the game for which Larry had been
pining so long.

"My! what a little chap!" he exclaimed. "Now I wonder if it can be a
youngster; and yet look at the full-fledged antlers, would you? But
then it seems to me I was told the deer down South were all much
smaller than up in the Adirondacks. I believe I can carry this fellow
to the boat without any help."

He soon lifted the game, and swung it to his back. Then, managing to
grip his gun in one hand, he took his bearings again, and started off.

Phil was too experienced a woodsman to easily get lost. And he had
fixed the points of the compass so well in his mind that, just as he
expected, he actually struck the river a short distance above the
tied-up motor boat.

Larry was still fishing away, and so engrossed in playing a bass that
had taken his bait that h