218 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xin. 



not fancying themselves pursued, but merely approached, 

 they merely turn away from it, working their way 

 down wind to the deadly ambush, of which their keenest 

 scent cannot, under such circumstances, inform them. If 

 he succeeds in the inch by inch, he crawls after them, 

 never pressing them, or drawing in upon them, but pre- 

 serving the same distance still, still giving them the same 

 wind as at first, so that he creates no panic or confusion, 

 until at length, when close upon the hidden peril, his 

 sudden whoop sends them headlong down the deceitful 

 breeze upon the treacherous rifle. 



' Of all woodcraft none is so difficult, none requires so 

 rare a combination as this, of quickness of sight, wariness 

 of tread, very instinct of the craft, and perfection of 

 judgement. When resorted to, and performed to the ad- 

 miration even of a woodman, it does not succeed once in 

 a hundred times ; therefore not by one man in a thousand 

 is it ever resorted to at all, and by him rather in the 

 wantonness of woodcraft, and by way of boastful ex- 

 periment, than with any hope, much less expectation, of 

 success.' 



