“The deer will be lying down, chewing the cud, at this time of day,” explained Larry to his two guests, who had never shared a deer hunt, “and so we shan’t disturb him in placing ourselves. What’s the nature of the ground, Cal? Can three of us cover it while the fourth drives?”
“We must,” Cal answered. “It may give some one of us a very long shot, but with nitro-powder cartridges these modern guns of ours will pitch buckshot a long way. The marsh in which the deer is feeding is on a sort of peninsula which is surrounded by water except on one side. That land side is a rather narrow neck, narrow enough for three guns to cover it, I think, if the guns are well handled. Fortunately the marsh itself is small. If it weren’t we might drive all day, as we have no dogs, without routing the deer out. As it is, I think I can start him, and I’ll do the driving after I post you three at the three best points of observation.”
“How do you ‘drive,’ as you call it, Cal?” Dick asked.
“Well, if we had dogs and horses, as we always do in a regular deer hunt, the man appointed to drive would ride around to the farther side of the swamp, and put the dogs into it. The dogs would scatter out into an irregular line and zigzag to one side and the other in search of the quarry. In that way they would advance till they found the deer and set him running toward the line of men on the posts. Every one of these would be intently looking and listening till the deer should come running at top speed in an effort to dash past his enemies and escape. The man on the post nearest where he breaks through is expected to bring him down with a quick shot aimed at his side, just behind the shoulder.”
“But what if he misses?”
“In that case the deer has won the game. As we have no dogs and there are only four of us, I mean to post you three at the points I find best suited, and then I’ll play hounds myself. I’ll go round to the farther side of the little swamp, invade it as noisily as I can, whooping and hallooing in the hope of getting the deer up. If I do, he’ll make a dash to get out of the swamp, and if no one of you manages to shoot him in the act, we’ll have none of that juicy venison that you, Tom, thought you had almost in your mouth when I first told you that the deer was here. Now let us be off. We’re burning daylight. Load with buckshot cartridges.”
When the neck of the little peninsula was reached, Cal bade his comrades wait at the point from which their camp could be seen, while he should go over the ground and pick out the places to be occupied as posts.
On his return he placed the others each at the point he had chosen for him, taking care that Tom and Dick should have the places near which the quarry was most likely to make his effort to break through.
“Now, you must keep perfectly still,” he admonished the two inexperienced ones, “and keep both eyes and three ears, if you have so many, wide open. You may see the deer without hearing him, or you may hear him tearing through the bushes before you see him. That will give you notice of his coming, but don’t let him fool you. He may not come straight on from the spot at which you hear him. If he catches sight, sound or smell of you, he’ll veer off in some other direction. So if you hear him coming don’t move a muscle except those of your eyes.
“Now I’m off to drive. If I can, I’ll get him up and away. After that everything will depend upon you.”