10 Wilderness Ways. 



They were very much frightened at first ; then I 

 thought they grew a bit curious, as I sat down peace- 

 ably in the snow to watch them. One a doe, more 

 exhausted' than the others, and famished even nib- 

 bled a bit of moss that I pushed near her with a stick. 

 I had picked it with gloves, so that the smell of my 

 hand was not on it. After an hour or so, if I moved 

 softly, they let me approach quite up to them with- 

 out shaking their antlers or renewing their desperate 

 attempts to flounder away. But I did not touch them. 

 That is a degradation which no wild creature will per- 

 mit when he is free ; and I would not take advantage 

 of their helplessness. 



Did they starve in the snow ? you ask. Oh, no ! 

 I went to 'the place next day and found that they 

 had gained the spruce tops, ploughing through the 

 snow in great bounds, following the track of the 

 strongest, which went ahead to break the way. There 

 they fed and rested, then went to some dense thickets 

 where they passed the night. In a day or two the 

 snow settled and hardened, and they took to their 

 wandering again. 



Later, in hunting, I crossed their tracks several times, 

 and once I saw them across a barren ; but I left them 

 undisturbed, to follow other trails. We had eaten 

 together ; they had fed from my hand ; and there 



