hen came the moment when he sighted the deer through the bushes, and
all his hunter instinct was aroused by the sight.

He began to creep forward, his finger upon the trigger of the gun, and a
sense of delicious uncertainty thrilling his nerves.

Just as the observant Owen later on declared, he did get down on one
knee several times, intending to shoot; but finding that the deer had
not shown any indication of alarm, he had concluded to advance a bit
further, in order to make doubly certain.

Eli knew that he was sure of that buck, for he had perfect faith in his
own abilities as a marksman, when within such short range; and as for
the quality of Cuthbert's pet rifle, that went unquestioned.

Finally he took a quick aim and fired.

It had been the report of his gun that floated away back to the camp,
and was heard by his two comrades about half an hour before dark.

Eli deliberately pumped another cartridge into the chamber with one
speedy movement of his hand, as he had done many times in practice, and
then ran forward to where he had last seen the deer.

He knew full well that it had gone down in a heap, for he had seen as
much while he was in that instant placing the rifle in condition for
further work; and hence he was not in the least surprised to find the
noble animal kicking its last when he arrived upon the spot.

Eli was not an enthusiastic hunter; indeed, as a usual thing, he had
been pretty well satisfied to let Cuthbert do most of the shooting and
fishing of the trip; but when it came to disposing of the cooked product
while they sat around the camp fire, he was right in the game, for Eli's
one weakness was his appetite, and he never seemed to have enough.

He placed the rifle against a neighboring tree, and, drawing his
hunting knife, proceeded first of all to bleed the deer, after which he
started to work cutting it up, for it was too heavy by long odds to
think of trying to carry the whole carcass to camp, now more than a mile
distant.

So busily engaged was he in this work that he paid not attention to what
was taking place around him, and consequently did not see the shadowy
figure that came flitting from tree to tree like a wraith of the great
pinelands, finally reaching the oak against which Eli had leaned his
gun.

Then a gnarled hand was stretched out and eagerly seized upon the
beautiful little Marlin, which was quickly withdrawn from view.

Just then Eli was startled to hear a gruff "