Part 10 (1/2)

Step Hen began to twist his head around frequently At first Thad thought he was developing a new eagerness to discover signs of game; but then he soon saw that the wistful expression on the other's face was brought about by quite a different cause

To tell the honest truth about it, Step Hen was trying to figure out in his benighted brain just what the cardinal points of the co interest in proving certain facts Thad and Allan had explained, concerning the fascinating ga where the north lay by eneral direction in which they slanted; signs of moss on the north or northwest side of the tree, and various other well provenof the kind Step Hen wanted to find out one particular fact They had started _north_ when leaving ca due south, it would tell hiain; and thus he would not be under the painful necessity of infor his co worth while showed up

And then it happened!

Step Hen happened to have his eyes in the right quarter when suddenly a fine big buck sprang to its feet, and stared at the away They had been heading up into the wind all the time, which was a part of Thad's principle as a true still hunter; and the deer had not known of their presence until the greenhorn happened to step on a sht

Possibly Step Hen never really knew just how he did it Indeed, he afterwards confessed to hi upward to his shoulder by some instinct, which was probably the exact truth; for hunters seldo

He saw that splendid deer standing there before hiet rifle at just such a picture of a deer as this in the shooting gallery in Cranford And when he took a hasty aim just behind the shoulder of the startled buck, he was really following out his usual custo the bull's-eye on the artificial deer, so fa! went the rifle, as he pressed the trigger

Thad had his double-barreled gun in readiness, and could have supple in a broadside of small bullets that must have dropped the animal in his tracks But he refrained, for his instinct seemed to tell him that the missile froave a convulsive leap, and pitched over; and Thad kne e that he has acco down a deer unassisted

True, the buck ain, and run; but even then the patrol leader held his fire, for he knew that the anio more than a hundred or two feet before itthe bell then, Thad; didn't you hear me?” alht of pu cha a fresh one in after it; and then, as the stricken buck scraait the astonished and dismayed Step Hen, who should have been prepared to send in another shot on his own account, actually forgot that he held a rifle calculated to repeat, and wildly besought his chuet away after all, Thad!” he cried, ju up and down in his excitement; ”why don't you blaze away, and knock ood and hard! There, now he's gone, and we've lost hiot hih luck!”

”Don't worry, Step Hen,” said Thad, quickly; ”that deer can't get away

You shot him to pieces, and he's just bound to drop before fiveas dead as----”

Just what Thad had into say ”as dead as a door nail,” that being a favorite expression aht be Thad ht into ancient history, and compare the condition of that buck inside of five minutes with the Julius Caesar of olden Roman times It did not matter

He was interrupted by a sudden loud explosion The sound caone, and could not have been far distant And even the tenderfoot understood what it meant

”Oh! listen to that, would you, Thad?” he burst forth with ”There's so up in this neck of the woods, and they've gotever; and just when it began to look as if he ought to belong tothe bell with that bullet And now I reckon it's all off Oh! why _didn't_ you knock him over when you had the chance, Thad?”

”I sure would if I'd had the least suspicion that there was any other hunter around these diggings,” declared Thad, with a frown on his usually san to scent trouble ”But co, and see what it all means Perhaps now old Eli, or Jim may have wandered out to take a little side hunt”

”But anyway, it's _rumbled Step Hen, as he started after his leader

They had no trouble in following in the direction taken by the stricken deer; even Step Hen, upon having his attention directed to the ground by Thad, could readily discern the trail of blood spots that told how the buck had been badly hurt by the shot back of the shoulder

And less than three minutes later the two scouts came upon a scene that caused Thad to frohile Step Hen's mouth opened with surprise, even as his eyes were unduly dilated in his intense excitement

CHAPTER X

BARE-FACED ROBBERY IN THE MAINE WOODS

Threeover the dead deer, and all of the set, all told; and any one would know at a glance that they could not be city sports to the native class of guides, loggers, or possibly soiant; and as soon as Thad set eyes on this individual he knew that his worst fears were about to be realized This could be no other than the big poacher, Old Cale Martin, the ame wardens seemed to dread like poison, and had never yet dared arrest, though his breaking of the laws had becoh that section where he roamed