"We must now track him to his lair, Edward."
This took them about a mile farther, when they arrived at a small
thicket of thorns about an acre in extent.
"Here he is, you see, Edward; let me now see if he is harbored."
They walked round the thicket, and could not find any slot or track by
which the stag had left the covert, and Jacob pronounced that the
animal must be hid in it.
"Now, Edward, do you stay here while I go back to the lee side of the
covert: I will enter it with Smoker, and the stag will, in all
probability, when he is roused, come out to breast the wind. You will
then have a good shot at him; recollect to fire so as to hit him
behind the shoulder: if he is moving quick, fire a little before the
shoulders; if slow, take aim accurately; but recollect, if I come upon
him in the covert, I shall kill him if I can, for we want the venison,
and then we will go after another to give you a chance."
Jacob then left Edward, and went down to the lee side of the covert,
where he entered it with Smoker. Edward was stationed behind a thorn-
bush, which grew a few yards clear of the covert, and he soon heard
the creaking of the branches.
A short time elapsed, and a fine stag came out at a trot; he turned
his head, and was just bounding away when Edward fired, and the animal
fell.
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