Читать книгу Camping in the Winter Woods: Adventures of Two Boys in the Maine Woods онлайн

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“He won’t run very far. I started him in a swamp. Just got a glimpse of him as I was crawling under a fallen tree-top, and couldn’t shoot,” Ben explained.

“My, he’s big!” said Ed.

“Better not talk any more now,” the guide cautioned them, looking keenly ahead.

They crossed a brook, and when they reached the opposite side there was a rustling of undergrowth. The lads cocked their rifles and the buck jumped to its feet and stood facing them.

“Shoot!” cried Ben.

The boys brought up their rifles at the same instant, but George was the first to pull trigger. His bullet went straight through the heart, and the buck dropped dead.

Ben ran forward and cut its throat with his hunting-knife. He complimented the lads on their good shooting, and said they must have been practising before they came to the woods. Ed told him he had a rifle-range in the cellar of his home, and said that George and he had engaged in many contests.

The guide showed them how to cut a slit in the flesh of the deer’s hind legs and insert a stout stick from one leg to the other to spread them apart. He called it a gambrel and briefly explained its use. Then, with their assistance, he raised the carcass by aid of poles. The deer once swung up, Ben quickly cut it open and removed its entrails. He put aside the liver, which he promised to cook for breakfast.