He had learned the taciturnity of the woods, and
leveling his rifle, took sure aim. There was no buck fever about him
now, and, when his rifle cracked, the deer bounded into the air and
dropped down dead. Ross, all business, began to cut up and clean the
game, and with Henry's aid, he did it so skillfully and rapidly that
they returned to the camp, loaded with the juicy deer meat, by the time
the fire and everything else was ready for them.
Henry and Paul ate with eager appetites and when supper was over they
wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay down before the fire under
the trees. Paul went to sleep at once, but Henry did not close his eyes
so soon. Far in the west he saw a last red bar of light cast by the
sunken sun and the deep ruddy glow over the fringe of the forest. Then
it suddenly passed, as if whisked away by a magic hand, and all the
wilderness was in darkness. But it was only for a little while. Out came
the moon and the stars flashed one by one into a sky of silky blue. A
south wind lifting up itself sang a small sweet song among the branches,
and Henry uttered a low sigh of content, because he lived in the
wilderness, and because he was there in the depths of the forest on an
important errand.
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