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Wherein the Third Document is continued, relating here the second item thereof, which has to do with that mighty hunter my four-great-grandfather, and tells how he made a wonderful capture of a remarkable beast in nick of time to save his own life from the headsman of the king.
THIRD DOCUMENT—Continued
Item Second
MY four-great-grandfather was a mighty hunter. So great a hunter was he, he was employed by the king to furnish his zoölogical garden, each Saturday of each week, with a new animal for his royal inspection.
There was but one single restriction on his employment not to my ancestor’s liking; but he knew his powers so well he had confidence he would never lose his employment in that manner. The restriction was, if he failed to present the king with a new manner of beast upon any Saturday he would lose his employment by having his head removed suddenly from his body.
It happened he was, like most young men, smitten by love, and one week he went away to get married, the nuptials not being finished until late Friday night. He had provided, however, against this contingency by capturing two new beasts the week before, thus having one on hand. What was his horror you may well imagine then when he found it had escaped.
There was nothing to do but go forth and capture another, and he was abroad the next morning before there was light enough to see.
He went into the forest at a new place and had traveled many miles without securing anything. Hitherto his practice had been to learn the whereabouts of the animals, then to set traps for them in the night time so he might obtain them without blemish, as it would have been worth his life to have taken before the king an animal marred or injured in any way. But now he had not time in which to set traps, and he knew not where to set them anyway.
