82 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



measure, based on the fact that I had learned from a thor- 

 ouo-hly reliable source that my photographer had served as 

 a private soldier in the German army during the whole of 

 the Franco-Prussian War ; and I was then as I am now 

 thoroughly convinced that in such a school a strong char- 

 acter is formed, frivolities forgotten, and manhood developed. 

 Let the reader study the character of Anton Mildenberger 

 throughout the entire story of this hunt before he declares 

 that the opinion I have just expressed is incorrect. 



The selection of the chief guide, although a matter of 

 great importance to any hunting-party, did not in this in- 

 stance require much thought on my part, as I was thor- 

 oughly acquainted with George Ross, who resides at 

 Spence, in the district of Muskoka, province of Ontario, 

 Canada, and with whom the reader has already been made 

 familiar in the preceding pages of this book, especially 

 with his exploits in deer-hunting, etc. These remarkable 

 feats, which have been recorded by my friend and com- 

 panion in a former hunt in these backwoods, were all 

 familiar to me when I made my arrangements for a third 

 visit to this grand forest. I was likewise aware of the fact 

 that there were then only two competent moose-hunters 

 and guides for all that region which I had determined to 

 enter, and these were Captain George Ross and his 

 brother, Wellington. These brothers were the first white 

 men to penetrate that magnificent forest lying north and 

 northeast of Pickerel Lake and the Lake of the Bays and 

 south of the Ottawa River for the purpose of trapping 

 beaver. This forest still contains many thousand square 

 miles, which are in the same primitive condition as they 



