“All right, then I’ll go alone,” decided Bart. “I want a deer,” and putting a supply of cartridges in his belt, and seeing that his gun magazine was filled, he started off.
For some time Bart tramped on without a sight of anything. Then, when he was going through a lonely part of the forest, if one part of that uninhabited place was more lonely than another, he was startled by a crashing sound in the underbrush. He started, and threw up his gun in anticipation, but he could not help laughing when a big rabbit, as startled as the lad was himself, stood up and looked at him.
“Skip away, bunny,” remarked Bart with a laugh, “I’m looking for bigger game than you,” and he kept on, while the hare scurried for cover.
Bart covered several miles, and, almost unconsciously, he found that he was traveling in the direction of the mud volcano, or boiling spring, having swung around in a half-circle since leaving camp.
“By Jinks!” exclaimed the youth, as he came to a halt in the midst of a little clearing, “I believe I’ve got an idea. That mud volcano water is partly salty. Now, why shouldn’t deer go there to get the salt? They love it and I may catch one there. I never thought of that before. I’ve read of ‘salt licks,’ where deer congregate, but I never figured out that our boiling spring might be one. I’ll keep on to there, and maybe I’ll get a shot.”
This gave a new direction to his chase, and he turned to make his way to the spring. He had not taken ten steps before he was again startled by a crashing in the underbrush. He thought it was another rabbit, and he was about to pass on when he looked up, and saw, through the leafless trees, a big buck gazing full at him. It was only for an instant, and before Bart could bring his rifle to bear the deer had bounded off.
“He’s headed for the boiling spring!” cried Bart in his excitement. “Now I’ll get him! I hope I get a shot before it begins to snow, and it’s likely to do it any minute now.”
Bart started off rapidly in the direction taken by the buck, with his gun in readiness for a quick shot, though he hardly hoped to get one until he had continued the chase for some time longer. The crashing in the bushes encouraged him, and told him that his quarry was ahead of him, and on he rushed.
Almost before he knew it he was within sight of the boiling spring, and he checked his pace, hoping to come upon the buck licking the salty deposit from the rocks in the little stream that flowed from the place where the mud volcano was. He thought the animal might even stop for a drink in a fresh spring, that was not far from the salty one.