When the grouse and hares he had shot that day had been prepared for market and placed in the hands of the express agent, Oscar ate his supper, started a fire in his shop, and set to work to skin the black fox and prepare it for mounting.
He intended that it should be his first contribution to the Yarmouth museum, and he was anxious to make it the finest piece of work he had ever put up.
It was long after eleven o'clock when he went to bed, but at daylight he was in the woods with Bugle, and by nine o'clock three grouse, and twelve out of a flock of fifteen quails he flushed just before reaching Mr. Parker's hill-farm, had found their way into his game-bag.
During his excursion of the previous day, Oscar had found that birds were unusually abundant in Mr. Bacon's neighborhood, and he was slowly working his way in that direction, when Bugle suddenly jumped a hare from a laurel thicket close in front of him.
Oscar, who was thinking busily about something else, was caught napping that time, and before he could bring his gun to his shoulder, the game had disappeared.
By running in a zig-zag manner and making long leaps from side to side, he succeeded in dodging the hound in the thick bushes. But Bugle very soon found out what his tactics were, and set to work to follow him up in a methodical and scientific way.
Knowing that a hare always runs in circles at the beginning of his flight, Oscar sprang upon a fallen log that lay close at hand, and waited for Bugle to bring the game around to the point from which he started.
He had scarcely settled himself to his satisfaction, when the report of a gun rang through the woods, followed by a doleful yelp from Bugle.
Oscar stood motionless with astonishment. His first thought was that somebody had shot at the hare and hit the hound instead. But a moment's reflection showed him that such an accident could not possibly happen under the circumstances.
The game had a good start, and the dog could not have overtaken him in so short a time. Beyond a doubt the concealed hunter, whoever he was, had shot Bugle on purpose.