116 HUNTING CAMPS. 



had several times filled the position of " second guide ' 

 to hunting parties, and although he had never gone on 

 a protracted expedition into the interior, was neverthe- 

 less well used to camp life and proficient in finding his 

 way, packing, and other tasks which make a capable 

 woodsman. The brother, Sam, was some years younger, 

 in fact little more than a youth. 



On the 1st of October Captain Wynyard and I left 

 England on the Allan liner Carthaginian, and after a 

 fair passage arrived in St. John's, where we hurried 

 through the necessary preparations, and in the early 

 morning of the 14th the Newfoundland express put us 

 down at Terra Nova, where our men were waiting for 

 us. At this place I found, also, an old schoolfellow, 

 Mr. I. H. Simon, in camp, he having, on my recom- 

 mendation, employed Jack and Frank Wells for the 

 earlier or September season. Simon, though he had 

 seen very few deer, not more, if I remember rightly, 

 than five shootable stags, had nevertheless killed three 

 good heads, the best being a very heavy one. 



He gave us the news that a party of American 

 hunters encamped close by were going to hunt what is 

 known as the " middle country," a district lying to the 

 east and south of Island Pond. The leader of this party 

 had just returned from Nova Scotia, where he had been 

 after moose. On hearing that these gentlemen intended 

 to hunt the " middle country " we were well content, as 

 although we purposed ultimately to cross towards 

 Middle Ridge, yet the ground between us and that 

 tract had been so full of caribou in the previous 

 November that I should have been sorry to share it 

 with any other hunters. 



The next day we put all our outfit aboard two flats 



