Show from r wild sports ot of the southa South south 1 night aifons among th the wolves the pass was steep and nd rugged the wolves they howled bowled aad and whined nut sat he ran like a whirlwind up the pass and he lett left the wolves behland macaulay mike what kind bind of 0 night would this be for gife fire shooting said the doctor to that meditative nimrod who was bu busy sy sewing up a moccasin byth by the light elight of the campfire camp fire after afdera a week of travel so so replied mike alike without lookin looking up 1 I am going I 1 think no answer mike alike put on his mended moccasin and drew off the other do you think we can kill anything 9 95 spose 1 replied mike come charlie let us try it for a little while 5 1 this was all a ruse on the part of poke in order to make mike alike think our great hunt was an unpremeditated affair and thereby increase the glory of killing 0 so much game it had been arranged between us during the day that we would try fire hunting that night it promised to be a cloudy night which was of great advantage as it prevented the game from seeing anything of the hunters and ald at the same time rendered their eyes more reflective when exposed to the torchlight torch light we had bad even gone BO so far as to make our pitch pine torches and the whole preparation was complete it was a party of two the doctor and myself there would be rather more interest in getting he the gamed game alone lone and besides that AlIkes mikes opinion on fire shooting was well known and we knew he would not gawith go with us so constant a hunter scorn primitive a snare as the one we proposed the negroes we gedid did no not want twant for the fewer in a party the better so one of us taking a gun and the other carrying 0 a torch we left the camp the boys ware chuckling together is as they watched us go the dogs howled because they could not g go with us and mike alike gave one of his expressive coughs that said aa as plainly as words now for it we were soon outside of the glare of the campfire camp fire and the little crek creek was crossed and our torch flashed brightly on the taper trunks of the pine trees the climbing vines and the broadleaf broad leafed leaf ed plants that grew by the pools of water there nasr no wind and the walking wil wll kingin in the pine woods produced no sound once in a long while a sandhill bandhill sand band hill crane erase disturbed in his wanderings would be seen stalking away with his red head high in the air like a sentry on duty or the sudden motion of the under brush would tell us that some one of the many little harlequins harle barle quins of the wood that gambol most when men do sleep had fled from this unusual spectacle of a moving light but no de deer er rewa rewarded r ss ed our search no bear showed ua us hi hla hia heavy coat T aith faith I 1 1 said the doctor this To romantic mantic promenade is getting ettin somewhat ion lon long iong ot tl the deer one buck will well pay ay ual saud fudge e if there was no one to laugham laugh at us I 1 rould have turned back long ago give me the gun and you take the light accordingly we vve changed positions I goin aheady ahead carrying the torch before me in suei such a manner samanner that it would throw thi tha li light liht 0 ht ahead as much as possible and none on our persons and the doctor received the gun and took my place directly behind and shaded b bj may ray 2 person the night had become still d darken darker aik e r and a misty rain commenced falling we had left the tac pine woods after walking 4 a couple of miles and had come into a grove of lower jower ower timber the long iong moss dropped into curtains the odor of magnolias burdened the air and every 1 minute a denser copse would force us to 6 tur burn turn aside from our route hush whispered the the doctor doctori suddenly with d a spasmodic pull at my ray coat tail theres a deer I 1 I 1 was wag just wondering at this ab absence selice bof of deer dier and could not biot account for it as etwas a rare thing to go a mile in florida without s seeing eing eang one i I 1 where I 1 whis whispered 1 I dont seele sebit see if 1 hushi dushl it has gone lowi now but ie we will wilf see ree ee ft it in a moment again I 1 I 1 I 1 ive kwe advanced on tiptoe both in body and expectation I 1 there theril there said the doctor pointing with rth his hia finger a little distance to the left but bu t the luminous spot was gone before I 1 hardly got my eyes on it we were in the very place for deer A heavy windfall win wind afa fall lay ahead of fsr usand the mingled trunks and twisted branches looked like ilke the he chevaux de frise to bomb great greag encampment the flickering light made the chados move back end and ind forth with a spectral effect as th ough dancing and the hash of the forest was unbroken by any sound every moment I 1 expected to see again the two phosphorescent stars that indicate the deers eyes and then the true shot would bring us the prize for our labor it seemed a long time in coming ilwain that again at deer must be very shy 2 whispered the doctor just above his hia breath the next time I 1 bawit isamit first it was bome gome distance ahead and there were two but just before I 1 could point them out to my comrade they had disappeared presently we saw it 0 an one side of us Ch charlie charile arlle arlie a will ol o the wis wisp said aid poke in rather a subdued tone or tte the deli devil who ever heard of a deer decreeing going around so he is examining you to see what manner of man you are perchance it is some bome spirit of af a departed buck leading us a wild e chase to destroy us there it is right behind me as I 1 live ejaculated the doctor in evident trepidation sure eire enough as 1 I turned in my head I 1 saw baw the two blue lights that indicate the reflecting lenses of the e bye eye the doctor was taking talling ltd aim but I 1 no noticed it was not very steady he pulled the trigger a dull snap announced a mis fine he pulled the other trigger it snapped in the same way the gun was wet with rain was awas anything ever BO so provoking said poke as the eyes vanished in the darkness li if it is the devil he will have you now how can you talk so said the doctor with a strong accent on the acan can 2 0 there ther e is your deer poke in the windfall said I 1 aa as I 1 caught sight of the eyes moving rapidly along over the mass of timber that lay heaped and knotted to together ether The theres res ies no deer sald said poke no claven cloven foot could go over that windfall that way I 1 would rather seethe see the night huntsman of the hartz mountains than see those eyes again ashe As he was speaking I 1 saw in the darkness ahead of us another pair of eyes and two or three pairs on the left the truth flashed on me the scarcity of the deer the proximity of the windfall the restlessness of those eyes all ill gave me the clue the wolves were around us A word wora to poke and the affair was explained and we vve stood still for consultation we tried new caps on our gun ghin but it bof was of nd rid use the cones were saturated ded did with water we turned toward the camp but in our can fusion we forgot the direction to heighten the misery of the scene our torch was almost burnt out let that die anid arid the rest could be easily divined we were standing at the time under a grove of small pecan trees and at that instant a low snort wa was sheard heard from the shadow near us like the cough of a do dog poke did not say a word but dropping C the gun and seizing a limb of 0 one of the trees over his head with an agility f for or which I 1 had never the least credit elevated himself to the crotch about ten feet from the ground I 1 did not want to do anything of the kind of coure course not I 1 would rather have placed my back against a tree and won a ilori glorious ous death in battle a against ainest my ray numerous fo foes e s but alack for a fad gad bad example I 1 dropped the torch that broke in pieces in in falling and cla cia clasping av n the nearest tree which happened to be a medium sized gum tree soon scrambled up to a place of safety lucky it was for me that I 1 had bad that torch in my hand for when it fell fill it lay scattered around the base of the tree still flickering and fl flashing ashin asbin in the darkness and the animals that had bad surrounded us as they baw saw their prey escaping rushed forward with an angry noise they sav saw the glowing embers and held back just long enough to permit my escape As I 1 Idrew drew myself upon the first liml limb a rush of gratitude passed over my soul and arid my feelings were as warm as a childs nothing could be pe seen for the sombre forest shut out dut the little light there was in the atmosphere but I 1 heard the pattering of feet beneath my fortress like falling rain hack sack and forward they came and wen went tand and snorting sounds and champing champine cham ping teeth made the black night alive with imaginary shapes I 1 wondered how it fared with the doctor yet dared dar ednot not nat call for the uncertainty was less fearful than the reality might be I 1 pictured him fallen dragged dragged back from his half attained refuge and divided j among the hungry pack and the very noises below might be the mumbling of his bones awhile their white tusks crunched oer oler his whiter 5 kull kuil AS it slipped through their jaws when their edges grew dulo duio dull duli 0 I 1 I 1 I 1 at length I 1 summoned courage 0 and called pokes hullda Hu lloa 1103 was the response more grateful torn to my ear than any sound in the world how low are you yon my boy I 1 called tailed again safe thank the lord what a disgraceful situation fobe lobe to be ia in and how bow aie afe a re to td get et out ot of it ll 11 1 I will be grateful if I 1 can ony keepin I 1 it forth northis ls tree is 13 so small that the wolves can ican almost reach me when they jump and as I 1 climbed tip lip one caught mj py coat talt talf tail tall and tore toie iten itel it entirely tile tiie orf off IC climb 1 il ap h higher 1 hier fier thefil then 1 7 11 cant the tree is 1 s d small that when I 1 gee gel any higher it bends over and lets me down ch dear you your pistol with vou you you try and shoot on one e and it may fright frighten eli ell them oh dear no chete are hundreds of am them J just look at them below I 1 looked down and surely I 1 could see a drove of them theal they were evidently th the grey wolf ton tor inn ill s spite it of the darkness I 1 courle could once in a while select detect their motions from their light boats coats poke suggested that they were phantom frantom wolves and declare declared d they were all white bite all the fearful stories that I 1 had ever read came r coursing our sing thresh my brain I 1 saw snow buried huts snuffed out and ravished lavished ravi shed by these prowler prowlers nd heard the shriek of the child thrown fro iro from inthe the sleigh by its fear mad bened mot mother lier iier and many an old dream reshaped in my mind the terrors of nights of fever were we to be tired out by their devilish patience a tience was one gang to relieve another until we wearily fell into their hot tainted jaws thus to be hurled into oblivion I 1 shouted in the hope that some one might lit hear me but what good to shout in that midnight forest I 1 heard a it was poke saying his prayers I 1 listened devoutly but could offer none myself when he had finished I 1 called to him ile he answered faintly what is it speak quickly I 1 cant hold on much longer langei I 1 fire your pi pistol stol do try it may bring some help even if it dogs doea not kill 1 I will try answered poke there was a momentary pause and then the sharp crack of a pistol was wag followed by the singing of a bullet close by my ear B by y the flash I 1 saw poke hatles hatless and almost coatless hanging on to the topmost branch of a young pecan that bent with him like an orange tree under a heavy load of fruit with the report of the pistol there was a scramble amon among the voracious crew at our feet but they sid did not go away permanently and were back in a moment fire the other barrel dear poke but try and fire the other way point it down bang bangi sounded the pistol and I 1 heard a thump on ion the ground as the poor f fellow ellow threw away the now useless weapon hold on poke take heart my dear boy ohl oh it is easy enough T to say take heart hearty but when the tree b bends en ds a little more than usual I 1 am within a foot foat of these hell hounds oh dear 1 at this moment 1 thought I 1 saw a light flashing through the foliage liage fo A moment more I 1 was sure of it poke poke they are coming some one is coming Where where oh dear I 1 cant cani turn my head lest I 1 slip off there here they commer corner I 1 see iee them three torches s and men min and dogs god bless them I 1 heard poke say faintly faint I 1 was afraid he was fainting hold holf on poke I 1 said aad screaming scream irig lilg t to the men mehi mefi I 1 called them to td hurry on they came at a run I 1 recognised recognized them as they came up with their torches flashing through the wood they were jackson and his men he chehad had been iu in our camp only the day previous and told us he had a sheep farm in the neighborhood quick I 1 this way I 1 shouted the ithe wolves wo vesi the wolves he answered me how blessed a thing was the sound of a human voice jn in our necessity They thes cAme under the trees we were in hullda there where are you where are the wolves he shouted in his stentorian tones dares de sheep im pra bin huntin all dis blessed night 2 exclaimed a negro who accompanied jackson on his search I 1 looked around and there was jacksons bi brg big flock of sheep staring blandly at us u up in in tg the e trees and at their ill iii master aster by turn aad it had been their eyes we had seen in the darkness and there was jackson seesawing see sawing on a fallen tree hiccoughing coughing and laughing and cryl crying trying ng by turns and there viere veere were the negroes neg roes roea and they beey called in the sheep ho ho bo hol oh laws a haussy did I 1 ever ho hol ho ho hol ho wolves oh laws a maus syl syll poke slid down the tree he be was in picking up his coattail coat tail that had been torn oft off by a broken limb in his hurried harried ascent sigh sighing irig 0 bohl ah that I 1 haf had the wings ivings of a dove dovey |