from their cover. Yet instead of wheeling and running, the older cow,
her ears standing out high and wide, began to trot steadily toward
them instead of running away. Rob once more raised his rifle, but this
time not to shoot at game, but only to make an experiment. He fired
once, twice, and three times in the air; and even up to the time of
the last shot, the old cow trotted steadily toward him, not stopping
until she was within fifty yards of him. Here she stood staring
wide-eyed, but at length, having figured out something in her own
mind, she suddenly wheeled and lumbered off again, her heavy, coarse
muzzle straight ahead of her. All three now shambled off and soon were
lost to view.

"Well, what do you think about that, Alex?" demanded Rob. "That's the
funniest thing I ever saw in all my hunting. Those things must be
crazy."

"I suppose they think we are," replied Alex, glumly; "maybe we are, or
we'd have taken a shot at her. I can almost taste that tenderloin!"

"I'm sorry about it, Alex," said Rob, "but maybe some of the others
will get some meat. I really don't like to shoot females, because game
isn't as plentiful now as it used to be, you know, even in the wild
country."

Alex sighed, and rather unhappily turned and led the way back toward
the river. "It's too late to hunt anything more," said he, "and we
might not find anything that just suited us."

When at length they reached camp, after again crossing the river in
the _Mary Ann_, twilight was beginning to fall. Rob did not notice any
difference in the camp, although the keen eyes of Alex detected a
grayish object hanging on the cut limb of the tree at the edge of the
near-by thicket. John and Jesse pretended not to know anything, and
Alex and Rob, to be equally dignified, volunteered no information and
asked no questions.

All the boys had noticed that old hunters, especially Indian hunters,
never ask one another what success they have had, and never tell
anything about what they have killed. Jesse, however, could not stand
this sort of thing very long, and at length, with considerable
exultation, asked Rob what luck he had had. Rob rather shamefacedly
admitted the failure which he and Alex had made.

"We did better," said Jesse; "we got one."

"You got one? Who got it?" demanded Rob. "Where is it?"

"There's a ham hanging up over there in the brush," answered Jesse.
"We all went out, but I killed him."

"Is that so, John?" asked Rob.

"It