i6o 



DEER STALKING ON 



in front the boughs sway and open, and there steps out into the 

 open an immense doe with white neck and rump and bluish-grey 

 sides, followed by a lordly stag carrying a grand head. These two 

 are not on the lead commanded by the rifle of the sportsman, and 

 a long detour is necessary, to remove all risk of giving the animals 

 a whiff of wind. 



In such spaces of meadow land, recessed between mountain 

 bastions, ' the winds have a quare way of blowin' from all parts 

 at oncet ', as a Newfoundland hunter once remarked. The men 

 are clad in light brown suits which are very near the monotone of 



A HERD OF CARIBOU : REID'S RAILWAY IN THE FOREGROUND. 



colour of the tawny sun-scorched shrubbery and fulvous grasses. 

 The doe walks ahead and her vigilance compels the men to be very 

 slow and stealthy in their advance. The great ears keep working ; 

 her nostrils sniff the air repeatedly ; her eyes seek all points of 

 the compass by turns. While that mood lasts the men remain 

 as utterly moveless as the boulders on the shore of the lake. A 

 deep but narrow inlet of the lake, winding in half circles through 

 the meadow, lies directly across their path. Slowly and deliberately 

 their round fat bodies, projecting high above the surface, come 

 over the water. Their great splayed hoofs make swimming an 

 easy matter. Each limb is a perfect paddle. Their inevitable 



