about two in the afternoon
But there still remained one duty to perform . The beehunter had killed a buck only the day before the opening of our narrative , and shouldering a quarter , he had left the remainder of the animal suspended from the branches of a tree , near the place where it had been shot and cleaned . As venison might be needed before they could reach the mouth of the river , Ben deemed it advisable that he and Gershom should go and bring in the remainder of the carcass . The men started on this undertaking accordingly , leaving the canoe about two in the afternoon . The distance between the spot where the deer had been killed , and the chiente , was about three miles ; which was the reason why the bee-hunter had not brought home the entire animal the day he killed it ; the American woodsman often carrying his game great distances in preference to leaving it any length of time in the forest . In the latter case there is always danger from beasts of prey , which are drawn from afar by the scent of blood . Le Bourdon thought it possible they might now encounter wolves ; though he had left the carcass of the deer so suspended as to place it beyond the reach of most of the animals of the wilderness .