Mr. Wynn, 'instead of that handsome barn. Why you live in a shanty,
while your corn is in a frame building, puzzles me.'

'Ay,' assented the settler, 'but the frame barn is paving the way for
the frame house, I calculate: Benny'll have both; and for the present
I'd sooner have my crops comfortable than myself;' a persuasion which
Robert afterwards found to be rooted in common sense, for the Canadian
climate permits not of stacks or ricks wintering in the open air.

After his usual unmannerly fashion, Mr. Logan bade no farewell, but
shouldered his gun at some hour prior to daybreak, and knapsack on back,
left the sleeping camp by the light of a young moon.

CHAPTER XVI.

LOST IN THE WOODS.

One day it happened that about noon, while Arthur was 'brushing' at a
short distance from the shanty, he noticed a pack of grouse among the
underwood within shot. Dropping his axe, he ran home for the gun, which
stood loaded in one corner.

It was not altogether the sportsman's organ of destructiveness (for he
had never forgotten little Jay's lesson on that head), but probably
a growing dislike to the constant diet of pork, that urged him to an
unrelenting pursuit. Cautiously he crept through the thickets, having
wafted an unavailing sigh for the pointer he had left at Dunore, his
companion over many a fallow and stubble field, who would greatly have
simplified this business. Unconsciously he crossed the blazed side-line
of the lot into the dense cover beyond, tantalized by glimpses of game,
which never came near enough for good aim. 'I must regularly stalk
them,' thought Arthur.

Noiselessly creeping on, he was suddenly brought to by an unexpected
sight. The head and horns of a noble buck were for a moment visible
through the thicket. Arthur's heart throbbed in his ears as he stood
perfectly motionless. Grouse were utterly forgotten in the vision of
venison. With every sense concentrated in his eyes, he watched the
brush which screened the browsing deer. By a slight crackling of twigs
presently, he was made aware that the animal was moving forward; he
crept in the same direction. The leaves had been damped by a shower two
hours before, and the cloudy day permitted them to retain moisture, or
their crispness might have betrayed his tread.

Ha! a dried stick on which he inadvertently set his foot snapped across.
The splendid shy eyes of the deer looked round in alarm as he bounded
away. A shot rang through the forest a