t some cartridges loaded with buckshot. And, my word! we
_might_ get a grizzly."

"All right," I said, "I'm on, as far as deer are concerned, but hang
your grizzlies. I'm not going to tackle _them_ with a shot-gun."

So it was arranged that next morning, before daylight, we should go,
with a boy to guide us, up one of the numerous canons in the mountains,
to a place where we were assured deer came down to drink.

It was a cold, clear, frosty morning when we started, the stars
throbbing and winking as they seem to do only during frost, and we
toiled, not particularly gaily, up the bed of a creek, stumbling in the
darkness and barking our shins over more boulders and big stones than
one would have believed existed in all creation. Just before dawn, when
the grey light was beginning to show us more clearly where we were
going, we saw in the sand of the creek fresh tracks of a large bear, the
water only then beginning to ooze into the prints left by his great
feet, and I can hardly say that I gazed on them with the amount of
enthusiasm that Halley professed to feel.

But bear was not in our contract, and we hurried on another half-mile or
so, for already we were late if we meant to get the deer as they came to
drink; and presently, on coming to a likely spot, where the canon
forked, Halley said, "This looks good enough. I'll stop here and send
the boy back; you can go up the fork about half a mile and try there."

And on I went, at last squatting down to wait behind a clump of
manzanita scrub, close to a small pool where the creek widened.

It was as gloomy and impressive a spot as one could find anywhere out of
a picture by Dore. The sombre pines crowded in on the little stream,
elbowing and whispering, leaving overhead but a gap of clear sky; on
either hand the rugged sides of the canon sloped steeply up amongst the
timber and thick undergrowth, and never the note of a bird broke a
silence which seemed only to be emphasised by the faint sough of the
wind in the tree tops. Minute dragged into minute, yet no deer came
stealing down to drink, and rapidly the stillness and heart-chilling
gloom were getting on my nerves; when, far up the steep side of the
canon opposite to me there came a faint sound, and a small stone
trickled hurriedly down into the water.

"At last!" I thought. "At last!" And with a thumping heart and eager eye
I crouched forward, ready to fire, yet feeling somewhat of a sneak and a
coward at the tho