The moment they came in sight, the old ones uttered their cries of warning, took to wing, and flew out over the lake, and, as they had expected, the young ones darted in among the lilies, and were out of sight in an instant.

But the boys had kept their eyes open, and knew about where to look for them; and, after half an hour's chase, they succeeded in securing three of them with the dip-net.
After tying them up in their caps, Frank pulled leisurely along out of the bay, and was just entering the lake, when Archie, who was steering, suddenly turned the boat toward the shore, and said, in a scarcely audible whisper, "A deer--a deer! sure as I live!" Frank looked in the direction his cousin indicated, and saw a large buck standing in the edge of the water, not twenty rods from them.
Luckily he had not heard their approach, and Frank drew the boat closer under the point, to watch his motions.
They were a good deal excited, and Archie's hand trembled like a leaf, as he reached for his gun.
Another lucky circumstance was, that the dogs had not discovered him.
Brave and Hunter could have been kept quiet, but Lightfoot was not sufficiently trained to be trusted.
The boys determined to make an effort to capture him; he would make a splendid addition to their museum.

Besides, they had never killed a deer, and now the opportunity was fairly before them.

But the question was how to proceed.

The buck was out of range of their shot-guns, and they knew it would be worse than useless to fire at him; so they concluded to lie still in the boat, and await the movements of the game.
The buck was standing in the water, up to his knees, deliberately cropping the leaves of the lilies, and now and then gazing toward the opposite shore, as if he were meditating upon something.