212 STORY OF A YOUNG HUNTER. 



emaciated hunter, as he ejected large volumes of 

 smoke from his nostrils, — " we might have known 

 that this winter would be marked by something 

 uncommon. The Chipewyans have always been 

 unfriendly to, if not secret enemies of, the Yellow- 

 knives, and would feast and rejoice at our mis- 

 fortunes. Why did he come among us ? Was 

 he not cautioned by our old men to desist from 

 his rash purpose, and listen to the words of 

 wisdom founded on experience ? But no ; he 

 had often, he said, been told, that if a solitary 

 deer were beaten, the whole herd would at once 

 abandon that part of the country where the deed 

 was done : as if thousands of animals feeding at 

 places far distant from each other could possibly 

 know what he might do at any particular spot to 

 one of their kind. He did not believe it ; some 

 people had bad tongues, and at the first op- 

 portunity he would put the matter to proof. 

 Accordingly, in the spring of the year, when a 

 little crust was formed on the snow by the effect 

 of the heat of the day followed by the cold of 

 the night, he sallied out on his long snow shoes 

 of six feet ; and skimming lightly over the bright 

 surface, soon discovered eight or ten deer feed- 

 ing on a frozen swamp. 



"Making a circuit behind them, he approached 

 with the greatest caution; yet even his almost 

 noiseless tread scared these timid and watchful 



