IN TIMBER AND BRtlLEE. 237 



Having asked and received leave, the cook picked up 

 Ed's rifle and fired at the young stag. The first 

 shot evidently did not hit him, for after pausing for a 

 moment he went off among the trees, at the peculiar 

 mile-eating gait of his kind, his motions being accelerated 

 by three more shots, one of which struck the water in 

 his very close proximity. 



The next day, having at last arrived at our chosen 

 hunting ground, we were astir before the dawn. Hitherto 

 travelling had occupied a large portion of our time, for 

 the river up which we had just journeyed had not been 

 traversed by canoe before ; at least, we could gather no 

 rumour of its having been done, and where the stream 

 narrowed, a number of deadfalls made it clear that no 

 one had passed that way for, at any rate, a number of 

 years. 



We carried the canoe down to the water before it was 

 light, as there had been a strong frost and the lake was 

 frozen over almost its whole extent. It therefore took 

 us some time to make our way across to the point where 

 the caribou had been observed upon the previous evening. 

 At length the sun rose from a white bank of cloud, 

 giving enough light to make clear some of the features 

 of the landscape. It was very satisfactory to see that at 

 last we had left behind us the seemingly endless green 

 timber, through which progress had been so slow. Now, 

 at last, it looked not only as if the country might hold 

 caribou, but as if one would be able to see them were 

 they there. 



The head of the lake was fed by a sluggish stream 

 which rolled through a wild and marshy valley, the 

 heights on either side being clothed with grey phantom 

 woods of dead trees that had suffered years before from 



