Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-07-20
Dan'l'S Muss with a Buck
unneighborIy Acts Of a Friend In
the Knob Country
HCABE came out of his house as

the Knob country. land boilers:
".Where you goin' so fast. DanlT
81 was goin' toler'ble fast. that's so.
and as was feelin' riled yit at Gabe !
didn't answer him pertic'lar cheerin'
1t was only the day afore that says TO
Gabe:
"'You talk like durn fool. Gabe!'
saws, cause he riled me the way he
shifted and turned up his nose and said
he'd like to see deer treat him that
way.
"Tll bet anything you want to- he
saws, that | kin lick the snortinest
buck, well or wounded, that ever run In
these woods, If he'll only wait till kin
git my claws on him; and kin do it so
quick he won't never know what lit on
hint
And that's what riled me, for the
deer that had the little muss with
wasn't a pertic'lar big one. but be come
so consumed nigh gittin' the best O me
that there want no fun in il. Iplinked
him all right, as be was runnin' quar-
term from me, and he went down like
an OK hit betwixt the eyes with sledgt
hammer. and laid there not even a-quiy.
erin
"A slemmin' nice shot, that, If ! do
say it myself, as hadn't ought tot !
saws. He died fore he fetched tho
ground
- sot my gun ag'in the tree was
standln' by and sa'utered over to'rd the
deer. with an oh-l-guess-I 'm-goin'-:o-
Observation-Disclosures sort o way,
an, standin' stradde of him. stopped
over to cut his throat. hadn't more
than put the pint o the knife ag'in his
throat when he riz up as if a blast O.
powder had been sot off under him. !
shot over his head and come down kerr
thump. fat as a founder. Fore could
make any sort of move. chug! come
them two fore hoofs o. the deers down
onto me right where my hind gallus
buttons fastens on. That rather
Knocked the wind out o. me for SPELL
but when got some of it back turned
my head and peeked up over my shout
der to see what the prospects was look
in like. see the buck bracin' himself
agin me with his forefeet and g'arir'
down at me with his eyes blazin'
worse'n the livest kind o. Goals, and his
nostrils was jest actu'ly spurtin steam.
Then / lxnowd had only filmed him
Jest grazed him with my bullet where
his backbone jined his head. That's fiji
MIN deer. II drops EN- like a stone
and stuns 'em awhile, but don't kill EN-.
But IL makes 'em as ugly as sin. So !
see at once that hadn't killed this
buck, but had only filmed him. 1t WI
the ruttin' time o. deer, too, and bucks
IS uglier then than wounded she bears.
anyhow Known these things, | be-
gun to wonder II any o the boys'd ever
run agin my bones there in the woods.
and lug EN- in and give EN- home
plantin'.
"Jest the minute moved and turned
my head back to see what the prospects
was the buck give a snort and r'ared up
almost perpendic'ler, so as to fetch
them sharp hoofs o. his'n down on me
ag'in. know'd that If they ever landed
they'd more'n likely pin me to the
ground as proper as coonskin nailed
to barn door, so kept my eye peeled;
and as them hoofs begun to fall turned
over quicker'n my old woman ever
Topped a pancake on the griddle. /
want second too soon, neither. One
o the bucks hoofs jest grazed the front
O. my huntin' shirt as | went over, an3
both Of his feet sunk into the ground.
hard as ii was, half way up to his knees
81 had an idee that them hoofs would
stick there. so that it'd kind O. stay fur
Their perceedin's on the part O. the deer
till could git on my pins, grab my gun.
and sock ball into him where it ought
to be soeked. But the idee want the
right kind. riz up all right, but some
how the deer's hoofs didn't stick in the
ground long. The deer got 'em out
soon enough to throw 'em agin me SC
hard that ii tumbled me more than sis
feet away, and mixed me up in lot o
Wild grapevines that hung down from
big oak tree. That was lucky tum
bic, / tell you. for | grabbed a THE!
stalk o. vine and elm up il in a wa,
that'd made monkey think he WASH
any great shucks at climbin', after all
! got up in that tree, and the bucl
danced and pranced and snorted aroun'
for a minute or two, and then wen
boundin' away up the ridge. Soon as
see his white tail whisk out o. sight j
the scrub oaks I elm down and wen
home feelin' about as clipper, | s'post
as a feller mowt feel who'd bee
ketched stealth a sheep. And that
the little muss with a mad deer that
was tellin' Gabe about when he smile
and turned up his nose and riled me b
sayin' that he'd jest like TO see any dee
treat him that way and that he'd be
a little somethin' that he could lick III
biggest buck that run them woods, we
or wounded, If the deer would only L
him git his claws on It once. So VI
riled yit when | was goin' by Gabe
house and he hollers:
"Where you goin' so fast Danl9'
Il didn't answer him pertic'lar chez
I -