OUR WOOD -BISON HUNT 131 



and wondering if indeed there were any bison in the land. 

 At one o'clock we crossed a lake, but not the one we were 

 seeking, where we saw fresh moose and caribou tracks, 

 which we could not of course afford to follow, at the risk 

 of scaring the big game we were after, much as we should 

 have liked fresh meat. Just after crossing the lake the 

 Ancient Warrior bore to the right of a sharp little ridge, 

 and Munn and I gave the dogs a spell of a few moments, 

 while we lighted our pipes, and joked about the old man 

 having overlooked the ridge, and concluded he must have 

 gone snow-blind. But even as we talked he turned to the 

 left and began slowly plodding up the ridge ; whereupon 

 we agreed he was about to send Joseph aloft again, and 

 was seeking high ground. Perhaps he, in fact, was I 

 never asked him but Munn and I had hardly reached 

 the foot of the ridge when Jeremi came hurrying back 

 as excited as a phlegmatic Indian ever gets, and we sug- 

 gested he had seen the " enemy," which these supersti- 

 tious creatures are ever encountering, to their utter de- 

 moralization. 



But the Ancient Warrior had the joke on us this time, 

 for he fairly whispered, " Buffalo." Instantly Munn and I 

 were tingling. At last the game we had tramped so far to 

 get was at hand ; heart-breaking trails, leaden snow-shoes, 

 and rabbits were forgotten as the hunter's blood swept 

 through our veins at the mention of bison. We four 

 gathered closely in a little circle, and then in subdued 

 tones Jeremi told Joseph, in Chipewyan, and Joseph, a few 

 words at a time, translated to us in Northland French, that 

 the ridge was literally covered with tracks, that they were 

 fairly fresh, that we would leave the dogs where they were 

 under cover, and take up the bison trail at once. 



I do not become stirred easily, but when we got on top 

 of the ridge and the tracks were before me, my heart quick- 



