[Canadian Crusoes by Catherine Parr Traill]@TWC D-Link book
Canadian Crusoes

CHAPTER III
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We must have Wolfe.

Here, Wolfe, Wolfe, Wolfe,--here, boy, here!" Catharine caught a portion of the excitement that danced in the bright eyes of her cousin, and declaring that she too would go and witness the hunt, ran down the ravine by his side, while Wolfe, who evidently understood that they had some sport in view, trotted along by his mistress, wagging his great bushy tail, and looking in high good humour.
Hector was impatiently waiting the arrival of the bows and Wolfe.

The herd of deer, consisting of a noble buck, two full-grown females, and two young half-grown males, were quietly feeding among the beds of rice and rushes, not more than fifteen or twenty yards from the shore, apparently quite unconcerned at the presence of Hector, who stood on a fallen trunk eagerly eyeing their motions; but the hurried steps of Louis and Catharine, with the deep sonorous baying of Wolfe, soon roused the timid creatures to a sense of danger, and the stag, raising his head and making, as the children thought, a signal for retreat, now struck boldly out for the nearest point of Long Island.
"We shall lose them," cried Louis, despairingly, eyeing the long bright track that cut the silvery waters, as the deer swam gallantly out.
"Hist, hist, Louis," said Hector, "all depends upon Wolfe.

Turn them, Wolfe; hey, hey, seek them, boy!" Wolfe dashed bravely into the lake.
"Head them! head them!" shouted Hector.
Wolfe knew what was meant; with the sagacity of a long-trained hunter, he made a desperate effort to gain the advantage by a circuitous route.
Twice the stag turned irresolute, as if to face his foe, and Wolfe, taking the time, swam ahead, and then the race began.

As soon as the boys saw the herd had turned, and that Wolfe was between them and the island, they separated, Louis making good his ambush to the right among the cedars, and Hector at the spring to the west, while Catharine was stationed at the solitary pine-tree, at the point which commanded the entrance of the ravine.
"Now, Cathy," said her brother, "when you see the herd making for the ravine, shout and and, clap your hands, and they will turn either to the ten right or to the left.


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