208 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



his return to our camp-fire had now been replaced with a 

 pleasant smile. The terrible blizzard had passed away, 

 and instead of the raging storm we now had sunshine. 

 It was now perfectly safe to chaff the captain on his want 

 of success, a pastime that he greatly enjoyed, when it 

 was done at some other person's expense, and it should, 

 likewise, be acknowledged that he had always previously 

 patiently submitted to this treatment when we were so 

 fortunate as to have an opportunity to make the applica- 

 tion. Such an excellent opportunity to cancel the old 

 score had never before offered since I had been in our 

 leader's company. 



I now ventured to suggest to the captain that he was a 

 dead shot whenever he drew a bead on a bird or deer, 

 but he was not so sure of his game when he sought to kill 

 a moose. The captain willingly admitted that the results 

 of the chase during the day seemed to justify my conclu- 

 sion ; and furthermore assured me that he would do no 

 more moose-shooting while he was accompanied by George 

 Ross and myself, but leave that part of the sport to us. 



The evening was spent pleasantly under our lean-to, 

 while a grand wood fire burned in front of it, although the 

 snow continued to fall and was driven by tne wind into 

 every part of our imperfect shelter. We passed the night 

 comfortably, slept soundly, were thoroughly refreshed, 

 and made ready for work the next morning. The earliest 

 dawn of day found us busied with the preparation of the 

 morning meal. The ground was now covered with snow 

 to the depth of nearly five inches, although the prevail- 

 ing wind had kept it from collecting upon the trees. 



