tely as they occurred.

"We had gone out one day, Harry and myself, in search of the deer, and
in hopes that we might be able to start, run down a fawn with the dogs,
and take it alive. For this we had muzzled both, so that they should
not tear the fawn when they came up with it--as I had often seen
greyhounds muzzled at home for the same purpose. We went up the valley,
where we should be most likely to fall in with the objects of our
search; but not knowing how soon a deer might start out of the bushes,
we walked along very silently and slowly, watching the woods before us,
and listening to every sound. At length we arrived near the edge of a
small opening, as we could tell by the clear breaks through the
branches. It was in these glades or openings that we usually fell in
with the deer; and we advanced with increased caution, each of us
holding a dog in the leash which we had made for them. All at once a
singular noise reached our ears, evidently coming from the glade. It
sounded as if several large animals were stamping furiously over the
firm turf; but in the midst of this there was a constant cracking of
some hard substances, as if half-a-dozen men were playing with eagerness
at the game of single-stick. Every now and then we could hear a strange
sound, short and fierce, like the snorting of a horse. Of course, Harry
and I stopped in our tracks the moment we first heard these singular
noises. Our dogs cocked their ears, and wanted to spring forward; but
we held them both tightly on their strings, while we listened. For the
life of us, neither I nor my companion could guess what was going on in
the glade.

"`What can it be, papa?' said Harry.

"`I haven't the slightest idea,' replied I.

"`It must be animals,' said he, `and a good many of them, too, to make
so much stamping. Papa, is not that the snort of a deer? I think I
have heard deer make just such a noise.'

"`Maybe it is. Perhaps it may be elk; but what can cause such a
commotion among them, I wonder?'

"`What think you,' suggested Harry, `if they are fighting with some
animal--a panther, or perhaps a bear?'

"`If so,' said I, `our best plan would be to get back the road we came,
and that as speedily as possible. But I do not think it is that. They
would not stand to fight such creatures. Both elk and deer trust to
their heels rather than horns to escape from bears and panthers. No, it
is not that; but let us creep forward, and see wh