ling salt spring, but the five did
not pull a trigger. This was not the game they wanted, and they never
killed wantonly. They were waiting for a fine fat deer, and they felt
sure that he would come. A great yellow panther padded down to the
spring, frightening everything else away and lapped the water greedily,
stopping now and then for suspicious looks at the forest. They longed to
take a shot at the evil brute, and, under the circumstances, everyone of
the five would have pulled the trigger, but now none did so. The panther
took his time, but finally he slunk back into the forest, leaving the
salt spring to better wilderness people than himself.

At last the sacrifice came, a fat and splendid stag, walking proudly and
boldly down to the pool. He sniffed the morning air, but the wind was
not blowing from the fire toward him, and, with no feeling of danger,
he bent down his regal head to drink. The five felt regret that so noble
an animal must give his life for others, but hunger was hunger and in
the wilderness there was no other way. By common consent they nodded
towards Henry, who was the best shot, and he raised his rifle. It
reminded him of the time far back, when, under the tutelage of Tom Ross,
he had shot his first stag. But now, although he did not say it to
himself or even think of it, he was Tom Ross' master in all the arts of
hunting, and in mind as well.

Henry pulled the trigger. The stag leaped high into the air, ran a few
yards, fell and was still. They dressed his body quickly, and in a half
hour Long Jim Hart, with all the skill and soul of a culinary artist was
frying strips of deer meat over the coals that Shif'less Sol had
kindled. There was danger of Indians, of course, but they kept a sharp
watch, and as they ate, they neither saw nor heard any sign.

"It is pretty sure," said Henry, "that no savage was lingering about
when I fired the rifle, because we would have heard something from him
by this time."

"You are shorely right," said Shif'less Sol. "Jim, give me another
strip. My appetite hez took a fresh hold ez I'm eatin' now with a free
mind."

"Here you are, Sol," said Long Jim. "It's a pow'ful pleasure to me to
see you eat my cookin'. The health an strength uv a lazy man like you
who hez been nourished by my hand is livin' proof that I'm the best cook
in the woods."

"We all give you that credit, Jim," said Shif'less Sol contentedly.

After breakfast they took with them as large a su