with large green leaves and small bright blue flowers, had wound round them, as if the victim were bound with wreaths for sacrifice. Another moment, and the hunters rushed forward; five spears were in its side at once. Awakened more than injured, the elk sprang up. One incautious youth was thrown on the ground in a moment, while it made for the thicket where Edward was hid.
He had meant to have witnessed rather than have joined in the attack; but the danger was imminent—his life was on a chance—the shot rang from his pistol—and the next moment he felt the large dark eye of the dying animal fix on his, and it lay in the death agony at his feet, for the bullet had entered its forehead. His comrades gathered round, received the reward he had promised, and prepared for supper in the woods, while Edward stood gazing on the gallant stag.
It was fifteen years since one of the kind had been seen in the district. A few hours and a few dollars finished his brief reign in the woods; and Lorraine thought a little sadly on the bold and the lonely which had fallen to gratify his curiosity.
Your moralising is, after all, but a zest to
