g
easily again without being discovered.

Two or three times this was repeated successfully, and still the big,
unconscious brute, facing away from me fortunately, had no idea that he
was being watched. His head went under water again--not so deep this
time; but I was too absorbed in the pretty game to notice that he had
found the end of a root above the mud, and that his ears were out of
water. A ripple from the bow of my canoe, or perhaps the faint brush of
a lily leaf against the side, reached him. His head burst out of the
pads unexpectedly; with a snort and a mighty flounder he whirled upon
me; and there he stood quivering, ears, eyes, nose,--everything about
him reaching out to me and shooting questions at my head with an
insistence that demanded instant answer.

I kept quiet, though I was altogether too near the big brute for
comfort, till an unfortunate breeze brushed the bow of my canoe still
nearer to where he stood, threatening now instead of questioning. The
mane on his back began to bristle, and I knew that I had but a small
second in which to act. To get speed I swung the bow of the canoe
outward, instead of backing away. The movement brought me a trifle
nearer, yet gave me a chance to shoot by him. At the first sudden motion
he leaped; the red fire blazed out in his eyes, and he plunged straight
at the canoe--one, two splashing jumps, and the huge velvet antlers were
shaking just over me and the deadly fore foot was raised for a blow.

I rolled over on the instant, startling the brute with a yell as I did
so, and upsetting the canoe between us. There was a splintering crack
behind me as I struck out for deep water. When I turned, at a safe
distance, the bull had driven one sharp hoof through the bottom of the
upturned canoe, and was now trying awkwardly to pull his leg out from
the clinging cedar ribs. He seemed frightened at the queer, dumb thing
that gripped his foot, for he grunted and jumped back and thrashed his
big antlers in excitement; but he was getting madder every minute.

To save the canoe from being pounded to pieces was now the only pressing
business on hand. All other considerations took to the winds in the
thought that, if the bull's fury increased and he leaped upon the canoe,
as he does when he means to kill, one jump would put the frail thing
beyond repair, and we should have to face the dangerous river below in a
spruce bark of our own building. I swam quickly to the shore and
spla