"I thought you were going for a deer, Mr. Miles. You should have been up before daylight."
Joshua declared that such had been his intention, but on reflection he thought, that as he would have to wade the stream, he would not go.
"But there must be good hunting on this side, Mr. Miles."
"Yes, I shouldn't wonder, but it looks better over on that side; mebbe I'll go when the grass dries off."
"If you had only mentioned your preference I would have gone out and driven a deer into camp."
"Now, look here, Major, can't you give us a rest? I was sleepy this morning, that's a fact."
Before day the next morning, the Major slipped out of his blankets, and with his Winchester started off in the direction of the aspens on the hills below and back from the camp. The sun had fairly streaked the east with gold color, and I lay watching the coming light, dozing a few moments and then awakening to see the surroundings put on more definite shapes, when I heard the report of a rifle. Before the echo ceased its complainings I was asleep again, dreaming that the major had encountered a silver-tip, and, failing in his first shot, had been compelled to take to a tree. I saw the brute tearing away at the bark and my friend embracing the trunk a dozen feet from the ground. The comical side of the picture was appealing to me when the vision suddenly vanished. I had been aroused by my own laughter, and I saw the Major looking down at me with a broad smile on his face.
"You must have been indulging in a pleasant dream, my boy. Come, it is time you were out of bed. Mr. Miles, will you please put the saddle and bridle of Mr. Dide's on one of your mares and go with me? I have killed that deer."
The Major was wet to the waist. Joshua looked at him dolefully and crawled out, inquiring for the locality of the game. When the Major told him it was not half a mile away and he had seen fresh bear tracks, he accelerated his pace and longed for another rifle.
We had noticed every morning fresh deer signs along the margin of the river, and the Major had stationed himself in some willows but a little way from the camp. Just after daybreak the buck, which he brought in was on his way for a morning tipple when the Major called him to a halt. The animal turned in his tracks on feeling the bullet, and the Major had followed for nearly half a mile, when he found him dead.