Henry left camp that morning shortly after John had gone.He crossed the main creek, tested the wind—which he foundfavorable—and proceeded with caution to the bluff overlook-ing the field. He saw three deer which he appraised throughhis glasses. There were a doe, a fawn, and a fine buck. Thefield was triangular in shape and occupied an area of five orsix acres. It was bounded on one side by the bluff and on theother two sides by woods. Some clumps had grown up alongthe boundaries and some stumps were in the field. Weeds andbushes were growing around some of the stumps.
The doe and the fawn were feeding in a depression at thelower edge of the field while the buck was located muchnearer the center. Henry was a good 250 yards away from thebuck and knew he had a job on his hands to get within range.He noted one of these stumps, with its clump of bushes andweeds, was located about 40 yards from the deer. He knewthat his only chance was to ease his way around the edge ofthe woods until the stump was directly between him and thedeer. There was safe enough cover for this approach exceptfor one place; here he would have to negotiate some thirtyyards with scarcely any cover. He was a good stalker. He re-moved his red cap and jacket, in order to become less con-spicuous, and made his way with the silence of an Indianuntil he reached this open space. Luckily, the doe and fawn,down in the depression, were not in view and would notbetray his position. He studied the situation and concludedthat he would have to risk an open stalk. When the bucklowered his head to feed, Henry eased his way forward andwatched for a flick of the tail and the head to start upwardfor a look around; then he would freeze like a statue. Thiswent on for several minutes. The deer took no notice. He wasin the buckwheat now; it was nearly knee high. When thedeer lowered his head again, Henry dropped to a crawlingposition and repeated his tactics of moving when the deer'shead was down and freezing when the head was raised. He
