CARIBOU HUNTING 87 



" head " travelling caribou by running through such obstacles 

 was almost beyond our strength. Three times we sank to 

 earth utterly exhausted, and could only be revived by taking 

 a look at the deer, which seemed to keep almost parallel to 

 our route. There were only another few hundred yards more 

 to fight through, and as it was a case of now or never, we 

 made one final effort and arrived at a long point of small 

 larch just as the first of the caribou, an old doe, came walking 

 along. I think a fair chance would hardly have presented 

 itself even then, had not a broad series of " leads " converged 

 and led sharply to the right at this point, for the old lady, 

 after stopping and carefully sniffing about to see if other 

 deer had passed, determined to adopt this route, and so 

 threw the game into our hands. I saw they would all come 

 by nicely, so sat still and strove to quiet my heaving chest. 

 The rifle performed strange parabolas in the air as I tried 

 the sight tentatively on her shoulder. It seemed hopeless 

 to shoot whilst in such a condition, yet the stag was due 

 in a few seconds, and I must try and compose myself. One, 

 two, six, eight big does filed slowly past at about a hundred 

 yards, then after an interval came a small stag, then at a 

 longer interval another stag about four years old, and then 

 for a while nothing. Where on earth was the big fellow .■* 

 Had he left them ? I moved slightly forward to verify my 

 suspicions, when the rolling horns and broad back of the 

 warrantable beast came into view. How differently a big 

 adult walks from a younger one! He seems indifferent to 

 his safety, especially when in the company of others, and 

 the Newfoundland expression of "soakin' along" seems to 

 exactly express his solemn, lazy mode of progression. He 

 did not seem inclined to stop, even when Saunders and I 

 both whistled, so I had to take him as he walked. At the 



