78 Sport and Life. 



than half a mile off, but separated from the " sink " where we were 

 camped by a belt of forest, through which a slow-flowing stream 

 meandered. It was the home of generations of beaver, who had 

 dammed up the stream in numerous places, thereby forming large 

 pools. At the head of each was to be seen a patch of beaver-meadow, 

 with smooth green sward. As I entered the forest I found it alive with 

 wapiti, moving about in the semi-darkness in spectre-like silence, 

 while now and again a broad moonbeam, stealing its way through 

 some break in the bower of branches overhead, would cast its light 

 upon a doe or young stag startled by signs of my close presence, 

 standing with pricked ears, peering into the darkness that hid 

 all but the dimmest outlines of my form from their ken. Slowly 

 and cautiously I pursued my walk. My moccasined footfall 

 disturbed but few of the deer, and I soon reached the brink ot" a 

 smooth, glade-like beaver-meadow, rather larger thari the rest, and 

 now bathed in the mellow, silvery light of one of the brightest full 

 moons I have ever seen. Every blade of the velvety sward 

 appeared to sparkle, and the surface seemed as smooth and level as 

 a billiard table. There were only a few wapiti on the meadow, but 

 they were all bulls, and " whistling " away as if it were the first, 

 and not the third or fourth, week of the mating time. This 

 whistling is always a singularly weird, inimitable sound, and one 

 that can only be likened to the quairt and yet melodious strains of 

 an ^Eolian harp ; the stillness of the night, too, as well as the other 

 surroundings, added to its peculiarity. 



Off and on, while making my way through the forest, I had 

 heard the clashing of antlers ; but it was mere play in comparison 

 to what I was presently to see. On reaching the glade, I had 

 seated myself on a fallen log, overlooking the tranquil scene, and 

 there, hidden by the deep shadow of some overhanging trees, I was 

 effectually screened from observation by the wapiti peopling the 

 meadow. I had not been seated for more than five minutes, when 

 suddenly the whistling on the glade stopped, and the half-dozen 

 stags who were just then close together in the centre, dashed off 

 in different directions, as if a bomb had fallen in their midst ; and 



