o 



48 RECENT HUNTING TRIPS. 



was covered with a growth of wiUow scrub, we 

 disturbed a smaU herd of six caribou, two of 

 them good-sized stags, but not, I think, very- 

 big ones. I was afraid that they might disturb 

 the single stag, but they passed a good way 

 below and out of sight of him, and presently 

 I crawled on my hands and knees — having left 

 Thomas behind^ — to the edge of the hollow 

 filled with old snow. 



The stag was no longer there, but I felt sure 

 he had only just left it, and was still somewhere 

 near. I first looked round very carefully, 

 keeping my head low down, then gradually 

 raised it higher and higher as my eyes swept 

 over the uneven stony ground around me. 



Suddenly I saw the tops of the stag's horns 

 quite close to me, and splendidly palmated tops 

 they were, too. 



I knew he must be lying down within 

 twenty yards of me, and in that open ground 

 I knew, too, that however quickly he might 

 spring to his feet and dash off he could not get 

 away from me. So I rose to my feet holding 

 my rifle at the ready. 



