76 WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



Pointing to a spot behind some sheltered rocks, he 

 said : 



" I was over there once in the dead of winter look- 

 ing after my traps. I had come up this wide piece of 

 water dragging a sled 1 after me through a depth of 

 snow which about reached to my knees, and had sat 

 down to rest for a few minutes. A band of caribou 

 appeared in sight on a line very nearly parallel to the 

 one I had made. 



" My track was soon discovered ; then first one bull 

 went up to it, looked at it and turned away to think it 

 over, then another and another, until four out of the 

 nineteen animals in the band had inspected it. 



" The cows and calves waited quietly until a decision 

 was reached. One of the younger bulls concluded that 

 there was no danger in it for him, and he made a few 

 steps forward, but none of the others followed him. 

 The bull which seemed to me to be the grandfather of 

 the bunch made a second inspection. Then he looked 

 up and down and crosswise of the ice, and evidently 

 made up his mind that to advance meant danger, and 

 that safety lay in beating a retreat. 



" So he marshaled the band, the youngest ones lead- 

 ing off, then the cows, and lastly the bulls, he himself 

 being last of all. 



" You couldn't call this instinct. It was intelligent 

 reasoning that brought them to their right con- 

 clusions." 



