A DEER-HUNT. 237 



was a twilight, which was increasing with each suc- 

 cessive day. The reindeer had grown very poor dur- 

 ing the winter, and their flesh was tough and almost 

 tasteless ; but this did not discourage the hunters, and 

 several captures were made. One day a large herd 

 came down near the store-house, which, being report- 

 ed, caused a general scramble for guns, and a rush 

 over the hills to surround the game. The crew ap- 

 peared more like boys on a holiday frolic than men 

 catering for their mess. They made noise enough, as 

 one would have thought, to frighten every living 

 thing from the neighborhood ; but, nevertheless, three 

 deer were shot. The thermometer stood at 41° below 

 zero, and, there being a light wind, the air was some- 

 what biting, and gave rise to numerous incidents 

 quite characteristic of our life. The handling of the 

 cold gun was attended with some risk to the fingers, 

 as one can neither pull the trigger nor load with a 

 mittened hand ; and there were quite a number of 

 slight " burns," as wounds from this cause were jest- 

 ingly called. McDonald carried an old flint-lock mus- 

 ket, the only weapon that he could lay his hands on, 

 and in the midst of the excitement he was heard to 

 fire. Hurrying in that direction, Knorr eagerly in- 

 quired what he was shooting at, and where the game 

 had gone. His answer afterward furnished us not 

 a little amusement : " There was a monstrous big 

 deer there half an hour ago, and had I pulled trigger 

 when I left the ship I should have killed him. But 

 you see the powder is so cold that it won't burn, and 

 it takes half an hour to touch it off; " and, to prove 

 his theory, he poured a lot of it out on the dry snow, 

 and applied a match. His singed whiskers bore ample 

 evidence that his theory was not founded on fact. 



