98 HUNTING CAMPS. 



myself to be in great luck to have come upon the deer 

 in such numbers, I was, as has been said, rather dis- 

 satisfied with the fact that, amongst all the stags I had 

 seen, not one carried a head unquestionably above the 

 average. 



The caribou to which Jack had just drawn my atten- 

 tion was close upon three-quarters of a mile away on 

 the slope of an opposing barren. The sun had gone in 

 for the moment, so that it was not easy to make him 

 out with certainty. But after a little the cloud blew 

 away, and in the brightening light I looked again, and 

 saw a sight that filled me with hope, for the sun was 

 shining and glinting upon the big clubbed top of his 

 left antler. Here, undoubtedly, at last was a really 

 splendid stag. For some time we sat and watched him 

 feeding leisurely along the rough shoulder of the ridge, 

 and when at length he disappeared into the dip on the 

 farther side we set off at once. 



The direction of the wind necessitated a long walk 

 which led us across a particularly wet and shaky bit of 

 bog, and then up over the first of a series of low rolling 

 barrens. Here we attempted to spy the stag again, but 

 for a time we could not locate him. At length, how- 

 ever, we caught sight of him coming over a slope 

 further on. He was now facing us, standing up 

 magnificently against the sky-line. As soon as he passed 

 over the brow of the barren into the hollow we 

 scrambled as quickly as we were able to the base of the 

 one we were on, and began to run, for there appeared 

 to be every chance that he would feed into an unstalk- 

 able position. 



We crawled up and hid behind some stones in a line 

 parallel to that in which the stag was feeding. All this 



