he believed must decide his own fate.

The boy made a formidable-looking picture; but it was all lost on the
buck, which did not halt nor slacken his pace.

It was a terrifying sight as he plunged toward the lad with lowered head
and glowering front, for the deer was an exceptionally large and
powerful one, and he meant to kill the individual that had sent the
bullet into his side, and from which the red blood was already
streaming.

It may be said just here, that Nick Ribsam no longer doubted the
failure of the long-range shot of Herbert Watrous.

The imperiled lad drew a deep respiration, poised himself on his
advanced foot, and, swinging to one side, with a view of avoiding the
full force of the charge, he brought down the stock of his gun with the
utmost strength he could command.

It descended with great power--so far as a ten-year-old boy is
concerned--but it was not sufficient to throw the buck off his base nor
to interfere with his plan of procedure.

He struck the lad with tremendous force, sending the gun flying from his
grasp and knocking Nick fully a dozen feet. Never in all his life had
the boy received such a terrific shock, which drove the breath from his
body and sent him spinning, as it seemed, through twenty yards of space.

Poor Nick believed half his bones were broken and that he was mortally
hurt; but the result of the charge was most extraordinary.