ATTACK BY WOUNDED CARIBOU 123 



animals trotting across the ice. These I at once 

 commenced to approach and succeeded in wound- 

 ing a young buck. When I came up to him he 

 was not dead, but I thought he was helpless, and 

 was carelessly approaching him when, to my 

 astonishment, he rose and plunged at me. He 

 had only antlers about the size of an adult doe, 

 and I managed to avoid them, though his side 

 brushed heavily against me as he passed. It was 

 an action of despair, however, for the poor brute 

 went no distance before he collapsed again, and 

 I despatched him with a merciful bullet. I killed 

 many Caribou later, but this is the only case when 

 I experienced one of those animals attempting 

 to show fight. It, however, bore out what the 

 Indians had told me, for they said such a thing 

 sometimes happened. After returning to my 

 fire and finishing my meal, I cleaned my kill and 

 left it lying, after covering the carcass with spruce 

 branches as before. 



It is strange to you, no doubt, but true of 

 one's ordinary habits in the North, that it was 

 fully two weeks later ere I trailed with dog-team 

 to this lake, uncovered the cache and cut up the 

 frozen carcass with an axe to load it on the sled ; 

 then, moving on to collect another hidden animal 

 at another distant point, finally to carry them 

 back to my cabin for food for my huskies (sled- 

 dogs). 



However, to return to my pack : after caching 

 the Caribou, I loaded up and continued home- 

 ward. On the way I encountered three more 

 lots of Caribou but did not molest them. It is 

 noteworthy that the wind was from the north 



