With a Tenderfoot 



195 



the cook, Louis, went to camp, and the other 

 two of us paddled down the lake calling 

 moose. 



It was soon very dark, and indeed we did 

 not get back to camp this night until long af- 

 ter midnight. As we moved along the guide 

 would call every twenty minutes or so. 

 Through the darkness ahead of us at intervals 

 we could hear the " quack, quack " of the wild 

 ducks roosting for the night on a little island 

 in the centre of the lake. When we reached 

 at one point within twenty yards, the alarm 

 was given, and such a quacking and flapping 

 of wings and splashing of water broke upon 

 the night air, as the ducks left the roost! 



There must have been a hundred and more 

 of them. They gather to the roosting place 

 at night from all directions, and in the morn- 

 ing scatter to feed at every pond and swamp 

 within a radius of miles, returning again in 

 the evening. 



The instinct of self-preservation from their 

 common enemies is strong, for they know if 

 they were to sleep in the ponds and swamps 

 they would be liable at any time to be pulled 



