"But, Louis, they will be gone out of sight and beyond the reach of the
arrows," said Catharine, as she handed him down the bows and a sheaf of
arrows, which she quickly slung round his shoulders by the belt of skin,
which, the young hunter had made for himself.
"No fear, ma chere; they will stop to feed on the beds of rice and lilies.
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.
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