Young Boone was one night engaged in a fire hunt, with a young friend.
Their course led them to the deeply timbered bottom that skirted the
stream which wound round this pleasant plantation. That the reader may
have an idea what sort of a pursuit it was that young Boone was engaged
in, during an event so decisive of his future fortunes, we present a
brief sketch of a night _fire_ hunt. Two persons are indispensable to
it. The horseman that precedes, bears on his shoulder what is called a
_fire pan_, full of blazing pine knots, which casts a bright and
flickering glare far through the forest. The second follows at some
distance, with his rifle prepared for action. No spectacle is more
impressive than this of pairs of hunters, thus kindling the forest into
a glare. The deer, reposing quietly in his thicket, is awakened by the
approaching cavalcade, and instead of flying from the portentous
brilliance, remains stupidly gazing upon it, as if charmed to the spot.
The animal is betrayed to its doom the gleaming of its fixed and
innocent eyes. This cruel mode of securing a fatal shot, is called in
hunter's phrase, _shining the eyes_.

The two young men reached a corner of the farmer's field at an early
hour in the evening. Young Boone gave the customary signal to his
mounted companion preceding him, to stop, an indication that he had
_shined the eyes_ of a deer. Boone dismounted, and fastened his horse to
a tree. Ascertaining that his rifle was in order, he advanced
cautiously behind a covert of bushes, to reach the right distance for a
shot. The deer is remarkable for the beauty of its eyes when thus
_shined_. The mild brilliance of the two orbs was distinctly visible.
Whether warned by a presentiment, or arrested by a palpitation, and
strange feelings within, at noting a new expression in the blue and dewy
lights that gleamed to his heart, we say not. But the unerring rifle
fell, and a rustling told him that the game had fled. Something