VERY MASSIVE HORNS. 345 



strike, and saw at once through the snow-laden 

 air that the stag was done for, for he kept 

 staggering about and soon lay down. I waited 

 until the squall had blown over, and then 

 walked down and killed him with a bullet 

 through the lungs. 



He proved to be a fine old stag with very 

 massive horns, measuring forty-five inches in 

 length along the main beam. A head well 

 worth having. His horns were still covered 

 with velvet, but were just ready to peel like 

 those of the stag I had shot on the previous 

 day. Later on, when I took his standing 

 height at the shoulder, I found it to be fifty- 

 four and a half inches, as near as possible. 



Looking at my watch I found it was not yet 

 one o'clock. I knew that if I were to cut open 

 the carcase of the caribou and leave it, the 

 ravens would eat all the fat before I could get 

 back, so I resolved to make straight for our 

 camp, and return at once with Coghlan and 

 Thomas, so that we could carry the head, fat, 

 and best parts of the meat away with us the 

 same evening. I got back again with my men 



