ON THE GANDER RIVER. 227 



was still in our favour, but on coming in sight of the 

 spot where we had seen the animal we found him gone, 

 his tracks proving that he had walked off at his leisure 

 along the spine of the ridge. We followed him for a 

 short distance until the timber became too thick ; then, 

 feeling very crestfallen for he certainly was a fine stag 

 we took our way back to the camp. Indeed, as I 

 thought the matter over during the night, the desire to 

 add that stag to my collection became so keen that in 

 the morning, when Hardy proposed to hunt the country 

 in another direction, I returned to the look-out, spent 

 the whole day on it, and saw nothing at all. 



But I would not give up my determination, for I had 

 an idea that the chances of ultimately securing the 

 animal were quite hopeful. He was evidently summering 

 in the thickets, probably within a mile radius of the 

 little broken barren upon which he had appeared. To 

 attempt to follow him up in the wood was useless. The 

 drought had made the floor of the forest like a sounding- 

 board ; so closely did the trees grow together that it was 

 difficult to see a dozen yards in any direction. Yet, 

 sooner or later, I knew the big stag must show himself 

 in the open, as he certainly had not been frightened. 

 My only fear was that he might come across my tracks, 

 in which case he would be almost sure to travel away 

 from the neighbourhood, for, as I have said before, 

 caribou are very easily alarmed through the sense of 

 smell. 



A second day spent upon the look-out produced no 

 result, though a young stag, the same, so far as I could 

 judge, I had previously seen fording the river, passed 

 within sixty yards. On the third day, after again 

 spending a couple of hours on the look-out, Jack and I 



Q 2 



