shadows caused by the dancing flame from the fragrant pine, the
startled creature was tempted.

And being tempted to the point of hesitation, it was lost! Slowly,
blowing as it came yet drawing nearer and nearer to the light, the beast
moved out of the brush into the open. Suddenly Enoch saw it--the
branching antlers, the fawn-colored breast, the pointed, outstretched,
eager muzzle, the great eyes in which the torch reflected a glint of
fire. It was a magnificent buck, the largest specimen of the deer tribe
the youth had ever seen. Suddenly Crow Wing jogged his elbow. A glance
passed between them. Each understood the other's intention. The Indian
fired, his ball entering just above the buck's breast and ploughing
slantingly upward through the throat. With a snort of terror the buck
swerved to one side and might have gotten away had not Enoch's shot
found a more vulnerable spot behind the foreleg. The heart of the great
deer was punctured, and it fell in the agony of death.

"Umph! Now Crow Wing have new moccasins," the Indian grunted, without
emotion. But Enoch went forward, lighting a second torch the better to
view the great buck. It was still now and outstretched on the earth
looked even larger than when in life. The thought flashed through his
mind: "Ah! perhaps this was the very brute--this enormous fellow with
his hoofs bigger than those of a steer and his terrible horns--that
killed my father here. Could it be possible?"

Looking upon this huge buck, noting its power and its fierce aspect,
though the brute's eye was glazed by death, he wondered if, by any
chance, he had been accusing an innocent person? This brute would have
been perfectly able to kill a man. Naught but the hoof-marks of the deer
were found about the body of his father. How, then, could Simon Halpen
be in any wise guilty of his enemy's death?

But Crow Wing brought the white youth to a realization of present
things. The Indian knew that their hunting was over for that night. No
other deer would approach the lick, for the smell of the blood from the
slain buck would warn its mates away. Only the creatures of prey would
be attracted now. So he was down on his knees and had already begun to
flay the dead carcass, and Enoch, seeing this, began to help him. It was
near midnight, and when the hide was off, the tongue and the most tasty
parts removed, Crow Wing built another fire, wrapped his blanket about
him, and lay down to sleep.

But Enoch co