see me here. I
don't know how Pete contrived to get from under me, but there he
stands, and here I lie."

"Load your gun, and try it again," said Glenn.

"I'd rather not," said Joe.

"Then I will," replied Glenn, whose horsemanship enabled him to retain
the saddle in spite of the straggles of Pete, who, after several
discharges, submitted and bore it quietly.

Joe then mounted and set out for the designated thicket, while Glenn
galloped off in another direction, followed by the hounds.

When Joe arrived at the hazel thicket, he continued in the saddle, and
otherwise he would not have been able to see over the prairie for the
tall grass which had grown very luxuriantly in that vicinity. There
was a path, however, running round the edge of the bushes, which had
been made by the deer and other wild animals, and in this he
cautiously groped his way, looking out in every direction for the
deer. When he had progressed about halfway round, he espied them
feeding composedly, about three hundred paces distant, on a slight
eminence. There were at least fifteen of them, and some very large
ones. Fearful of giving the alarm before Glenn should fire, he
shielded himself from view behind a cluster of persimmon bushes, and
tasted the ripe and not unpalatable fruit. And here he was destined to
win his first trophy as a hunter. While bending down some branches
over head, without looking up, an opossum fell upon his hat, knocking
it over his eyes, and springing on the neck of Pete, thence leaped to
the ground. But before it disappeared Joe had dismounted, and giving
it a blow with the butt of his musket it rolled over on its side, with
its eyes closed and tongue hanging out, indicating that the stroke had
been fatal.

"So much for you!" said Joe, casting a proud look at his victim; and
then leaping on his pony, he gazed again at the deer. They seemed to
be still entirely unconscious of danger, and several were now lying in
the grass with their heads tip, and chewing the cud like domestic
animals. Joe drew back once more to await the action of Glenn, and
turning to look at the opossum, found to his surprise that it had
vanished!

"Well, I'm the biggest fool that ever breathed!" said he, recollecting
the craftiness imputed to those animals, and searching in vain for his
game. "If ever I come across another, he'll not come the 'possum over
me, I'll answer for it!" he continued, somewhat vexed. At this
juncture Glenn's gun was hea