A Winter Walk 301 



come, so they will give up a large part of it 

 and narrow down to a hundred acres. 



" I found the deer browsing not far from 

 here the other day and perhaps we may see 

 them if we have luck. 



" Deer are very wary. Their scent is of 

 the keenest, and their hearing is about as 

 good. The wind is in our favor, however, 

 and that is worth a good deal." 



Spite of all we could do, our snowshoes 

 made quite a noise crunching upon the crust, 

 but, as Ben said, the wind was in our favor, 

 and that would also carry the noise as well as 

 our scent away from the deer. 



We crept cautiously forward for about 

 forty rods. 



Finally we came out on the brow of a slight 

 hill which was quite thickly covered with 

 scrub spruces. 



Here we crept along from tree to tree, 

 nicely screened by the dark green plumes. 



Ben was the first to reach the brow of 

 the hill and peer down into the valley be- 

 yond. 



