166 ' HELD UP ' BY A CARIBOU STAG 



fate, and defeat the certain destruction of both of them. Quickly 

 drawing his long hunter's knife from the scabbard which hung at his 

 leathern belt, he advanced boldly, with the bright steel glistening 

 in his left hand. When he was halfway to the tree the caribou 

 charged down upon him with a hoarse bellowing roar dreadful to 

 hear. Fortunately the hunter was practised in quick movements, 

 and managed to dodge the first deadly rush. Then came a period 

 during which man and beast hovered round one another, fencing for 

 an opening, and when at length the two combatants closed the man 

 managed to hold on to one horn with his right hand, while he endeav- 

 oured to stab the beast in the neck with his disengaged arm. The 

 vast strength of the stag at this season of the year in the prime 

 of condition and frenzied with rage was too much for him, however, 

 and he was thrown to the ground, falling on his back and receiving 

 some nasty thrusts from the sharp tines of the brow antlers. But 

 never for a moment did he relax his hold on the horn ; and at this 

 juncture he remembered a trick he had learned in his youth for 

 throwing domestic cattle. With his right hand pulling on the left 

 horn of the stag he twisted the nose up in the contrary direction with 

 his left, thus exerting a telling leverage on the animal's neck. 



In the melee, however, his knife fell to the ground, leaving him 

 unarmed. 



His brother, who had been watching this uneven combat with 

 spellbound interest, now pulled himself together, dropped from the 

 yielding tree, and, after recovering the hunting-knife, ran to his side. 

 Locked together in a fearful trial of strength, man and stag, striving 

 desperately for the mastery, went swaying this way and that, until, 

 with one supreme effort, Harry sent the great stag down on his 

 knees, while Alfred kept stabbing away in the vicinity of the ribs, 

 making small impression, however, the blade of the knife not being 

 of sufficient length to reach the vital organs. Finally, with one 

 desperate drawing cut, he passed the sharp blade across the throat, 

 and made a lunge at the spine. 



These last strokes decided the hitherto doubtful conflict in favour 

 of the men. The great beast plunged heavily forward on the blood- 

 stained moss, while his life slowly ebbed away in a red stream, and 

 Harry, breathless, but only slightly hurt, rose from that perilous 

 battle-ground. Never had hunter been in more imminent danger. 

 Never was man's life more bravely risked for another. 



After an interval, in order to recover themselves from their 

 exertions, the hunters decapitated their late enemy. It was a 

 magnificent head, with forty-two points, and after adding the 

 trophy to their load they set out for their camp once more, and this 

 time reached it in safety. 



