282 BIG GAME FIELDS 



cooking and he, too, was well up in his art. Pro- 

 visions were supplied by Hyland & Belfry; com- 

 plete outfitting can also be arranged through 

 them. I spent two or three days in Telegraph 

 Creek preparing for my trip into the mountains, 

 as I did not want to reach the hunting grounds 

 until the game law was off, which is September 

 1st. 



It chanced one night before starting on my 

 hunt, I sat in my room writing. The lamp had 

 burned low and the air had grown chill. I looked 

 at my watch; the hour was later than I had 

 thought. It was close to midnight. For hours 

 the little hamlet had been slumbering, no sounds 

 were falling, the hush of the night was complete. 



It is often at a time like this I love to muse 

 and ponder, out in the star-shine, alone with my 

 pipe. On this occasion I pulled on a warm, fur- 

 lined hunting coat, slipped down to the door and 

 out into the starlit night. The frosty clear air 

 was like rare old wine. Silently the darksome 

 river flowed on its way below. The opposite 

 bank rose steep and bold until its rocky, cragged 

 top showed clear against the sky. A thin, silvery 

 light grew behind the shattered spurs until a 

 young crescent moon sailed up revealing her mel- 

 low light, silvering the river. 



