V THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE TRIP 91 



river. Little and I started off with our rifles to stalk them. 

 This was not a matter of great difficulty, since, given the 

 right wind, they are the most stupid and easy brutes to 

 stalk. Our intention had been to kill two of them, but of 

 course, as often happens, we both put a bullet into the same 

 beast ; and as the magazine of my Mannlicher then jammed, 

 I could not fire at any of the others. There was, however, 

 one unfortunate fact for the caribou, which had not been 

 altogether unforeseen by me. This was that Glyn, who 

 had been away all day looking for bear on the hills, had 

 also spotted the caribou on his return journey, and was at 

 that moment stalking them from the opposite direction. As 

 the remainder of the small band galloped past him, he 

 dropped an old buck with a long shot. It was probably a 

 fortunate event for Glyn that I was unable to fire again, 

 as he was almost directly in the line of fire, and he after- 

 wards informed us that he heard passing over his head the 

 familiar song of a bullet, which Little had sent after the dis- 

 appearing caribou, but added that he was soon perfectly safe, 

 since, profiting by recent experiences in the South African 

 campaign, he at once took cover behind a convenient rise 

 in the ground. 



On arrival at the lake the outlook was not promising. It 

 was a singularly desolate and forsaken-looking spot, particu- 

 larly at this time of year, when it lacked even the relief of a 

 few patches of green grass to vary the monotony of the end- 

 less waste of volcanic ashes and tundra which covered the 

 valley, backed by its snow-clad mountains rising on either 

 side, devoid of any form of timber, save only a few clumps 

 of stunted alder-bushes still half buried in snow. The lake 

 itself was circular in shape and about one mile in diameter. 

 On the north side rose a single conical-shaped mountain 



