196 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



clothes. Indeed, I felt so gay that I burst out 

 unconsciously with — 



' ' Behold, how brightly hreaks the morning ! " 



but had scarcely got to the end of the first verse when 

 Mr. Howard rushed out from the hut, and cried, — 



" Confound it, my dear friend, pray hold your 

 row ! The game will hear jow two leagues off. The 

 caribous can hear the slightest noise, and their 

 instinct is like the fox's." 



Monai also was muttering in his own tongue a ma- 

 lediction against m}' harmonious outburst, which, for- 

 tunately for me, was only intelligible to Mr. Howard. 



The breakfast was excellent and plentiful ; so we 

 put on our snow-shoes vath renewed strength. The 

 rays of the sun began to pierce the damp foggy 

 curtains of the morning, which rose gradually and 

 dispersed. We all three set out, keeping the most 

 profound silence. Yet I think, to tell the truth, I 

 could hear the beating of my own heart, so excited 

 was I at the expectation of meeting with the king 

 of the North American forests. The aspect of the 

 country through which we passed was admirable and 

 magnificent. The stillness of nature was disturbed 

 only by the sprightly gambols of the squirrels, and 

 the flight of the magpies and the crows. Presently 

 we came upon traces of the cai-ibous ; but without 

 stopping to examine, Mr. Howard and myself fol- 

 lowed Monai, to whose direction we had confided 

 ourselves unreservedlv. 



