198 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



strength to hold him within anything like a moderate gait. 

 A half an hour, and with an eager neigh he breaks into a 

 run, under my not unwilling rein, for I, too, have caught a 

 glimpse of a fire through the wood, and recognize the white 

 face of yonder cliff, with the moon full upon it ; and in another 

 minute, with the warm blood rushing to my heart and brain, 

 and a mad whoop of delight, I burst into the light of 

 the camp-fire to be welcomed by the yells and combined 

 howls of a dozen hounds, and a hearty cheer from the gallant 

 Charlie ! 



Now the scene has changed, and by the warm fire and 

 over the smoking roast of tenderest venison, the feats of 

 the day are recounted with as much eager zest as if there had 

 been no such thing as cold, fatigue, and nervous apprehen- 

 sions. The terrors have all vanished within the charmed circle 

 of that fire-light, and we threw ourselves upon our blankets 

 to sleep, dreaming lustily of just such scenes to be gone 

 through to-morrow ; only the dreams some how gave only the 

 bright side of the picture, and managed to leave out all about 

 freezing to death, starvation, &c. So sunrise would find us 

 with appetites only sharpened by the sufferings of the day 

 before, and yet more ready to do full justice to the roast or 

 living venison. Such are the strange inconsistencies of the 

 hunter's moods, and such the charms of the vivid shifting 

 excitements of his restless and tumultuous life ! He is one 

 moment worse than the most ferocious wild beast, and the 

 next his head is turned aside to weep that he has slain " a 

 thing of beauty," fresh from God's own hands. It was thus 

 our lives had fared, in camp and out, for four or five days, 

 when the weather changing suddenly, the snow commenced 

 to disappear rapidly. 



Our sport in the snow was now over ; but we were not by 

 any means satisfied, and Charlie proposed that we should 

 strike our camp and make our way across the ridges to the 

 hut of a famous hunter known along this border as Old Jake, 



