THE "FUNNY POP-GUN."
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deed, the singular animal never seemed to make this discovery fairly but once, through all the perils we passed.
Our course to-day was parallel with the Cross Timber, and almost under its shadows; for we skirted along its edges, merely keeping in the prairie for the convenience of our horses.
We were never out of sight of deer. Groups of them were constantly in view, sometimes in herds of several hundred. The neighborhood of this line of timber seems to be a favorite resort; and, after feeding to repletion on the prairie, they would retire about noon to lie down in the shade; so that at any moment we could see them either peering out from among the trees on the right of us, or taking a hearty stare from some green knoll on the left.
As I have invariably noticed to be the case where deer are abundant, the number of wolves was immense ; and the doctor amused himself every now and then—not a little to the discomfort of his mustang—by chasing the sneaking rascals into the timber, and occasionally doubling one up by a silent messenger from his ever-ready air-gun.
The hunters were astonished at the effects of this—to them— ridiculous weapon, and a few hours had only passed before the doctor, and what they had nicknamed his "funny pop-gun," had risen a hundred per cent, in their estimation.
Just before night he killed a large black wolf, and came into camp, after we were all dismounted, wearing its bushy tail for a plume in place of his discarded feathers. He was greeted with shouts of laughter, as his odd appearance deserved; but I was amused by the curiosity with which the men examined his weapon, and made their comments. After supper, the fun was heightened when this oddity very gravely proceeded to display his acquisitions in specimens of natural history, drawing successively from his capacious pockets a centipede, a horned frog, and a handful of snails, with sundry bugs, butterflies, &c, and displaying them by the light of the fire upon his blanket.    The party gathered around him