intensely awake. His companion, who was wholly unskilled in
woodcraft, could see no cause for his agitation, and feared that

he was yet angry. He did not detect the evidences of large game
in the immediate neighborhood. He did not see, by the bend of

the broken twigs and the small tufts of hair on the briar-bush,
that an elk had pushed through that very copse within a few

minutes; nor did he sniff the gamy odor with which the large
beast had charged the air. In obedience to his friend's gesture,

he flung himself down on hands and knees and cautiously crept
after him through the thicket. He now saw without difficulty a

place where the elk had broken through the snow crust, and he
could also detect a certain aimlessbewilderment in the tracks,

owing, no doubt, to the shot and the animal's perception of
danger on two sides. Scarcely had he crawled twenty feet when he

was startled by a noise of breaking branches, and before he had
time to cock his gun, he saw an enormous bull-elk tearing through

the underbrush, blowing two columns of steam from his nostrils,
and steering straight toward them. At the same instant Ralph's

rifle blazed away, and the splendid beast, rearing on its hind
legs, gave a wild snort, plunged forward and rolled on its side

in the snow. Quick as a flash the young hunter had drawn his
knife, and, in accordance with the laws of the chase, had driven

it into the breast of the animal. But the glance from the dying
eyes--that glance, of which every elk-hunter can tell a moving

tale--pierced the boy to the very heart! It was such a touching,
appealing, imploring glance, so soft and gentle and unresentful.

"Why did you harm me," it seemed to say, "who never harmed any
living thing--who claimed only the right to live my frugal life

in the forest, digging up the frozen mosses under the snow, which
no mortal creature except myself can eat?"

The sanguinary instinct--the fever for killing, which every boy
inherits from savage ancestors--had left Ralph, before he had

pulled the knife from the bleeding wound. A miserable feeling of
guilt stole over him. He never had shot an elk before; and his

father, who was anxious to preserve the noble beasts from
destruction, had not availed himself of his right to kill one for

many years. Ralph had, indeed, many a time hunted rabbits,
hares, mountain-cock, and capercaillie. But they had never

destroyed his pleasure by arousing pity for their deaths; and he
had always regarded himself as being proof against sentimental

emotions.
"Look here, Biceps," he said, flinging the knife into the snow,

"I wish I hadn't killed that bull."
"I thought we were hunting for poachers," answered Albert,

dubiously; "and now we have been poaching ourselves."
"By Jiminy! So we have; and I never once thought of it," cried

the valianthunter. "I am afraid we are off my father's
preserves too. It is well the deputy sheriffs are not abroad, or

we might find ourselves decorated with iron bracelets before
night."

"But what did you do it for?"
"Well, I can't tell. It's in the blood, I fancy. The moment I

saw the track and caught the wild smell, I forgot all about the
poachers, and started on the scent like a hound."

The two boys stood for some minutes looking at the dead animal,
not with savageexultation, but with a dim regret. The blood

which was gushing from the wound in the breast froze in a solid
lump the very moment it touched the snow, although the cold had

greatly moderated since the morning.
"I suppose we'll have to skin the fellow," remarked Ralph,

lugubriously; "it won't do to leave that fine carcass for the
wolves to celebrate Christmas with."

"All right," Albert answered, "I am not much of a hand at
skinning, but I'll do the best I can."

They fell to work rather reluctantly at the unwonted task, but
had not proceeded far when they perceived that they had a full

day's job before them.
"I've no talent for the butcher's trade," Ralph exclaimed in

disgust, dropping his knife into the snow. "There's no help for
it, Biceps, we'll have to bury the carcass, pile some logs on the

top of it, and send a horse to drag it home to-morrow. If it
were not Christmas Eve to-night we might take a couple of men

along and shoot a dozen wolves or more. For there is sure to be
pandemonium here before long, and a concert in G-flat that'll

curdle the marrow of your bones with horror."
"Thanks," replied the admirer of Midshipman Easy, striking a

reckless naval attitude. "The marrow of my bones is not so
easily curdled. I've been on a whaling voyage, which is more

than you have."
Ralph was about to vindicate his dignity by referring to his own

valiant exploits, when suddenly his keen eyes detected a slight
motion in the underbrush on the slope below.

"Biceps," he said, with forced composure, "those poachers are
tracking us."

"What do you mean?" asked Albert, in vague alarm.
"Do you see the top of that young birch waving?"

"Well, what of that!"
"Wait and see. It's no good trying to escape. They can easily

overtake us. The snow is the worst tell-tale under the sun."
"But why should we wish to escape? I thought we were going to

catch them."
"So we were; but that was before we turned poachers ourselves.

Now those fellows will turn the tables on us--take us to the
sheriff and collect half the fine, which is fifty dollars, as

informers."
"Je-rusalem!" cried Biceps, "isn't it a beautiful scrape we've

gotten into?"
"Rather," responded his friend, coolly.

"But why meekly allow ourselves to be captured? Why not defend
ourselves?"

"My dear Biceps, you don't know what you are talking about.
Those fellows don't mind putting a bullet into you, if you run.

Now, I'd rather pay fifty dollars any day, than shoot a man even
in self-defence."

"But they have killed elk too. We heard them shoot twice.
Suppose we play the same game on them that they intend to play on

us. We can play informers too, then we'll at least be quits."
"Biceps, you are a brick! That's a capital idea! Then let us

start for the sheriff's; and if we get there first, we'll inform
both on ourselves and on them. That'll cancel the fine. Quick,

now!"
No persuasions were needed to make Albert bestir himself. He

leaped toward his skees, and following his friend, who was a few
rods ahead of him, started down the slope in a zigzag line,

cautiously steering his way among the tree trunks. The boys had
taken their departure none too soon; for they were scarcely five

hundred yards down the declivity, when they heard behind them
loud exclamations and oaths. Evidently the poachers had stopped

to roll some logs (which were lying close by) over the carcass,
probably meaning to appropriate it; and this gave the boys an

advantage, of which they were in great need. After a few moments
they espied an open clearing which sloped steeply down toward the

river. Toward this Ralph had been directing his course; for
although it was a venturesome undertaking to slide down so steep

and rugged a hill, he was determined rather to break his neck
than lower his pride, and become the laughing-stock of the

parish.
One more tack through alder copse and juniper jungle--hard

indeed, and terribly vexatious--and he saw with delight the great