266 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



hunting with a gentleman — from the old country, 

 I think he was — my word, sir, a long time ago, 

 mebbe thirty years or more. My soul and body, 

 sir, what a sight of moose there was in the woods 

 in those days ! and the cariboo run in great herds 

 then ; all failing now, sir, all failing. We were 

 following cariboo, right fresh tracks in the snow ; 

 we were keeping a sharp look-out, expecting to 

 view them every minute, when I looked up and 

 saw a man standing right between us and where 

 the cariboo had gone. He was not more than 

 two hundred yards off — I could see him quite 

 plain. He had on a cloth cap and a green blanket- 

 coat with a belt round the middle — not a leather 

 belt like we use, sir, but a woollen one like what 

 the Frenchmen uses in Canada. There was braid 

 down the seams of his coat and round the cuffs. 

 I could see the braid quite plain. He had no gun, 

 nor axe, nor nothing in his hands, but just stood 

 there with his hand on his hip, that way, right in 

 the path, doing nothing. * Our hunting all over, 

 sir,' I said to the gentleman. ' We may as well 

 go home.' ' Why, what is the matter, John ? ' 

 says he. ' Why, look at the man there right in 

 the track ; he's scared our cariboo, I guess.' 

 Well, sir, he was very mad, the gentleman was. 



