44 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



If you come suddenly in sight of game, you should 

 remain perfectly motionless for a time, and sink out 

 of sight gradually ; for if you drop down quickly, 

 the movement will startle it. Deer seem to be 

 short-sighted. They do not notice a man, even close 

 by, unless he moves. I never saw a man so excited 

 at the sight of game, and yet so quiet, as Sandie. 

 It seemed as if he would fly to pieces ; he seized 

 my arm with a grip like a vice, and whispered, " Oh, 

 a great stag within easy shot from the big rock 

 yonder ! He has not seen me." So, prone upon 

 the earth, I crawled up to the rock, cocked the rifle, 

 drew a long breath, raised myself into a sitting 

 position, got a good sight on the deer, pulled, and 

 had the satisfaction of seeing him tumbling head- 

 long down the gulch, till he stopped stone-dead 

 jammed between two trees. 



Leaving Sandie to prepare the stag for trans- 

 portation, I started off as fast as I could, and 

 brought one of the ponies down to the carcass. It 

 was pretty bad going for a four-footed animal ; but 

 Colorado horses, if used to the mountains, will go 

 almost anywhere. The way they will climb up places, 

 and slither down places, and pick their way through 

 " wind-falls," is marvellous. They seem to be 

 possessed of any number of feet, and to put them 



