122 WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



Now, let us return to the dam, after this digression. 

 The noisy red squirrel commenced to forage for his 

 breakfast after the heron had disappeared. Another 

 deer whisked from the opposite side of the brook, and 

 at last the sun showed his glorious face over the tree- 

 tops in the eastern sky. 



The night had departed, a new day had begun the 

 birds and the animals and the insects were each and 

 every one either hunting for their breakfast or busy eat- 

 ing it, excepting the night prowlers, like the owl and the 

 fox, and they were making ready to go to their repose. 



It would be interesting to know how many animals 

 had passed perhaps a restless night because of their 

 getting a breath of air tainted by the scent of a hu- 

 man being ; how many owls had looked down upon 

 me with curious eyes, wondering what manner of 

 creature this stranger could be ; how many red squirrels 

 had pried into my secret retreat, and how many foxes 

 had passed me by, in a hurry to get out of possible 

 harm. 



As for me, I broke the ice which had covered the 

 brook from shore to shore during the night, had a 

 morning wash, boiled another bouillon capsule, ate 

 another slice of bacon, shouldered my rifle and was off 

 for another day's hunt. " The night at the dam " be- 

 came a thing of the past, because a new day was upon 

 me, with its work to be performed and its pleasures to 

 be enjoyed. My two matches had been enough for me 



