CEDAR-BOUGH SHANTY. 41 



upon, and the intervening boughs that prevented my 

 progress were parted with the utmost care. From 

 the abundant indications of game to be seen on 

 every hand, I concluded that the unknown were 

 either new arrivals or numerically few. 



The caution that I was obliged to exercise pre- 

 vented my approach from being rapid, so that almost 

 an hour elapsed before I believed myself within such 

 distance that I could obtain an observation of the 

 immediate locality I sought. From being a little out 

 in my reckoning I had to alter my course, and stalk 

 further than I expected. The trees and brush, as I 

 advanced, became less abundant, and a few yards 

 further on it would be difficult to find shelter from 

 observation ; but fortunately, before I was in such 

 a predicament, I was rewarded with an elucidation of 

 the mystery. By a charred piece of ground where 

 there had once been a fire were two Indian dogs; 

 both of which appeared large, well-fed specimens of 

 their race. The one was amusing himself with a 

 shank-bone ; the other, half asleep, nodded and blinked 

 over the imaginary warmth of the extinguished fire. 

 The surface of the soil was here clothed with grasses, 

 and, except immediately around the remains of the 

 fire, was not trodden down and disturbed ; while at 

 the base of a rock, not ten yards removed from where 

 the cooking had been performed, stood a shanty, 

 composed of cedar-boughs skilfully laid in lairs so as 

 to overlap each other and be waterproof. The slight 

 appearance of traffic and the smallness of the 



