A DENSE MIST. 103 



that one could not see ten yards in any direc- 

 tion. By six o'clock, however, it had cleared a 

 good deal, so we packed our canoes and got 

 under way. We had not paddled more than a 

 hundred yards when I saw two large objects 

 moving through the mist, not far away on our 

 left front. It was impossible to tell what they 

 were ; but as soon as I had convinced myself that 

 they were moving I called Saunders's attention 

 to them, and he at once said that they must be 

 deer. They were travelling westwards and 

 following the course of the river, which here 

 (as we afterwards found, but could not then see 

 on account of the mist) skirted an open tract of 

 marshy ground. 



I now landed on the near side of the river 

 and made my way as quickly as possible across 

 a bend in its course, in the hope of getting 

 ahead of the caribou and obtaining a shot at 

 one of them as they passed along on the other 

 side of the river. I was too late, however, as I 

 had not reckoned upon an obstacle in the shape 

 of a mass of debris, washed down by the last 

 spring floods and composed of dry sticks and 



