NEAR MIDDLE RIDGE. 129 



useless. It was only to be hoped that Sam had reached 

 the canoe, otherwise he would be unable to find any- 

 thing but berries to eat, as he started with only a knife. 

 Had he carried a rifle there would have been little to 

 fear. It was a relief when Walter appeared late in the 

 afternoon with the news that the prudent Sam had 

 been found, warm and comfortable, fast asleep under 

 the canoe. I think that on this occasion the fears of 

 our men made us unduly anxious, but, at the same 

 time, in an uninhabited country the margin between 

 safety and danger is always a narrow one, and we gave 

 orders that for the future Sam was not to go far from 

 camp without one of the other men. 



On the morning of the next day we moved camp, 

 changing to the eastern shore of the lake, where 

 Wynyard and I slept while the men went back to bring 

 up more packs. Just behind the drogue of trees in 

 which our tent was pitched stretched a large marsh, 

 where during the previous season I had seen several 

 stags. Near by grew a tall juniper, from the upper 

 branches of which a very useful view was obtainable, 

 for the marsh was a particularly promising place to 

 watch, because it presented the only open ground for 

 some distance, and would therefore probably be chosen 

 as a crossing place by any stags that might be working 

 round the lake head. But, although we kept a close 

 watch, the only stag that appeared was a small one. 



On the following afternoon Jack Wells and I canoed 

 over the lake and camped at the Narrows, while Wyn- 

 yard remained at the base to hunt the southern slopes, 

 where I had killed my last stag in 1903. It was agreed 

 that he should join us at the Narrows on the next day. 

 In the evening a fair stag crossed the lake, swimming 



H.C. K 



