NEAR MIDDLE RIDGE. 143 



telescope I tried to discover its fellow, but in vain, for 

 the stag carried only one antler. Without a word I 

 handed the glass to Wells. " That's the stag we saw 

 last year, don't you think so ? " he said at once. In fact 

 there was no room for a doubt, for, besides its extra- 

 ordinary weight, the horn was of a peculiar shape a 

 long, sharp spike protruded some eighteen inches from 

 the beam between the brow and the bay. 



It seemed probable that this stag had never possessed 

 two antlers. On the other hand, it was just possible 

 that he had in two consecutive years knocked off the 

 second horn fighting or in running through the woods 

 when it was in velvet. We could talk with perfect 

 safety in the wind that was whistling off the frozen 

 barrens. The ground between us and the stag was 

 ideal for stalking covered with boulders and hummocks 

 of moss. The spot was obviously a favourite feeding 

 place of caribou, for the cream-coloured reindeer moss 

 was cropped as close as if it had been cut with a lawn- 

 mower. By using a little care we were able to get 

 within sixty yards of the big stag, and we waited 

 watching him. Presently he faced us, and neither with 

 the naked eye nor with the telescope could I make out 

 any sign of the missing horn. Unquestionably he was 

 one-horned. 



After a while he got on his feet and began feeding 

 straight towards us, until at last I could see the colour 

 of his eyes and even, as I fancied, the ruminative 

 expression in them. At length he stopped feeding and 

 raised his head. We were directly below him and only 

 some fifteen or twenty paces away. He must, I imagine, 

 have seen his companion upon some neighbouring barren. 

 This was the moment to shoot, for in another he would 



