who kills a deer betwixt January and August. The Judge had a great hand in getting the law through."
"I can believe it," returned the old hunter; "I can believe that, or any thing, of a man who carries on as he does in the country."
"Yes, the law is quite positive, and the Judge is bent on putting it in force—five pounds penalty. I thought I heerd your hounds out on the scent of so'thing this morning: [ didn't know but they might get you in difficulty."
"They know their manners too well," said Natty, carelessly. "And how much goes to the state's evidence, Squire?"
"How much!" repeated Hiram, quailing under the honest, but sharp look of the hunter—"the informer gets half, I—I b'lieve;—yes, I guess it's half. But there's blood on your sleeve, man;—you haven't been shooting any thing this morning?"
"I have, though," said the hunter, nodding his head significantly to the other, "and a good shot I made'of it."
"He-e-m!" ejaculated the magistrate; "and where is the game? I s'pose it's of a good nater, for your dogs won't hunt any thing that isn't choish."
"They'll hunt any thing I tell them to, Squire," cried Natty, favouring the other with his laugh. "They'll hunt you, if I say so. He-e-e-re, he-e-e-re, Hector he-e-e-re, slut come this a-way, pups come this a-way—come hither."
"Oh! I've always heern a good character of the dogs," returned Mr. Doolittle, quickening his pace by raising each leg in rapid succession, as the hounds scented around his person. "And where is the game, Leather-stocking?"
During this dialogue, the speakers had been
