huntin’ knife in my hand, took hold of his horn
to raise his head so as to cut his throat. If
that deer was dead, he came to life mighty quick;
for I had no sooner touched him, than he sprang to
his feet, and with every hair standin’ straight
towards his head, came like a mad bull at me.
In strugglin’ up he overshot me; and as he made
his drive one prong went through the calf of my leg.
I plunged my knife into his body, and the blood spirted
all over me. But it wasn’t no use.
He smashed down upon me again, and made that hole
in my leg above the knee. I handled my knife
in a hurry, and made more than one hole in his skin,
while he stuck a prong through my arm. I hollered
for Crop, who was watching the shanty as his duty
was. The old buck and I had it rough and tumble;
sometimes one a-top, and sometimes the other, and both
growin’ weak from loss of blood. May be
we didn’t kick and tussle about, and tear up
the sand on the beach of the lake
some! The
buck was game to the backbone, and had no notion of
givin’ in, and I had to fight for it, or die;
so up and down, over and over, and all around, we went
for a long time, until Crop made up his mind that
my callin’ so earnestly meant something, and
round the point he came. When he saw what was
goin’ on, you ought to’ve seen how
he
went in! He didn’t stop to ask any questions,
but as if possessed by all the furies of creation
he lit upon that buck, and the fight was up. He
with his teeth, and I with my knife, settled the matter
in less than a minute. But, Judge, let me tell
you, that buck was dangerous; and if Crop hadn’t
been around, may be ther’d have been the bones
of man and beast bleachin’ on the sandy beach
of Mud Lake! I bound up my wounds as well as I
could—but it was tough work backin’
my bark canoe over the carryin’ places on Bog
River, and across the Ingen carryin’ place, and
from the Upper Saranac to Bound Lake, with them holes
in my leg and arm, and the other bruises I received.
When I got out to the settlements I was mighty glad
to lay still for six weeks, and when I got around again
I was a good deal leaner than I am now.
“My gun hangin’ fire made my bullet go
wide of the spot I aimed at. It had grazed his
skull and stunned him for a little time, and crazed
him into the bargain. I learned more fully a
fact that I’d an idea of before, by my fight
with that deer, and it is this—that it’s
best to keep out of the way of a furious buck with
tall, sharp horns on his head. He’s a dangerous
animal to handle.
“That’s one of the adventures that I went
out into the wilderness arter, and found without lookin’
for it; and I’ve found a good many others that
put me and Crop in a tight place more than once.
I backed him over all the carryin’ places between
Little Tupper’s and the Saranacs once, when
he was too lame and weak to walk, and nussed him for
a month afterwards. But that’s an adventer
I’ll tell another time. There’s a
deal of excitement, as the Judge calls it, outside
of the fences, if people will take the pains to look
for it there.”