244 APPROACHING THE SALT LICK. 



we presented them to the reader,* loved Nature with 

 a deep devotion, drank in the beauties of the scene with 

 ardent pleasure. Jake, however, who seemed case- 

 hardened against such influences, plodded along regard- 

 less of aught save keeping his moccasined feet from 

 rough contact with snag or root. 



Thus through the darkening forest the three trappers 

 advanced swiftly and silently towards the Salt Lick. 

 As they approached the spot several grayish forms dis- 

 appeared in the gloom with such swiftness that it 

 seemed doubtful if, in the uncertain light, they were 

 not the creations of fancy. The distant snapping of a 

 twig, however, proclaimed the reality of these fleeting 

 phantoms. 



" I guess we've skeered a cupple o' the critturs," said 

 Jake ; " but there's a plenty more o' 'em in the woods." 



The hunters now cast an eye round for a suitable 

 ambush from which to fire on the deer, and Gaultier 

 soon discovered a recess in a rocky bank well screened 

 in front by some thick bushes. Jake pronounced this 

 to be exactly what was required. Opposite this spot 

 the sides of the Lick rose perpendicularly to the height 

 of some six or eight feet. Against the face of this bank 

 old Jake planted the sapling to which we have alluded, 

 and taking from his " possible-sack " some shining sub- 

 stance which glimmered with phosphoric light, he placed 

 it in the cleft of the stick at about the height of a deer's 

 shoulder from the ground. 



* Vide " The Three Trappers." T. Nelson and Sons, Edinburgh, 



