176 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



and other animals come out from their covers and leave 

 their fresh imprints on the snow, where there were pre- 

 viously no tracks or traces. Under those circumstances 

 no time need be lost in an examination of the track for the 

 purpose of determining whether it be new or old ; but 

 when several days have elapsed since the fall of snow, then 

 it remains to be determined whether the imprints are fresh 

 before the sportsman spends much time on them. The 

 reader will now remember that this hunt was organized 

 especially for the purpose of hunting the moose, and, inas- 

 much as our guides were entirely inexperienced in the art 

 of " calling," it therefore was necessary for us to depend 

 entirely on trailing them. The halt on Long Lake was 

 preparatory for the work which was to follow. 



Having spent considerable time in these preparations, 

 and also in awaiting the arrival of those conditions favor- 

 able to moose-hunting, we finally broke camp about eight 

 o'clock on the morning of October 15. We travelled in 

 our canoes as far as the head of Long Lake. We then 

 crossed over the portage from this lake to Beaver Pond. 

 The distance from Long Lake to the pond is about a mile 

 and a half. The guides were rather slow in bringing up 

 our luggage this morning; and, therefore, for the purpose 

 of passing the time pleasantly, I started off into the woods, 

 taking with me Ponto and Bummer in search of partridges. 

 I found a number of birds about two miles from the pond, 

 and killed two with my rifle. I then made an attempt to 

 return to the place which I had left in the early part of the 

 day. This was a much more difficult task than I had an- 

 ticipated ; but, after having wandered about some time, I 



