CARIBOU HUNTING 51 



apart from other considerations, he had sharp eyes, I liked 

 to have him with me. 



A pleasant walk of five or six miles over the high ridge 

 and then down through the timber for another two miles 

 brought us to the eastern end of the New Lake. I did not 

 go on to the shore, but stopped behind examining a splendid 

 series of fresh caribou trails leading, as I had hoped they 

 would, right across the marsh and round the lake edge. It 

 was the very place to meet the deer, and I could put my 

 camp in a " droke " of spruce close to the water's edge as 

 long as the north wind, which had now started, continued 

 to hold. 



I sat down to rest well satisfied with the outlook, when 

 Jack, who had gone to fill the kettle, suddenly came rushing 

 back to me to say that a stag and a doe were at that 

 moment swimming across the lake. Sure enough, there 

 they were far out in the centre of the lake, and making for 

 the southern shore about a mile to our left. There was no 

 time to be lost, as caribou swim fast, so we got off at once, 

 and fortunately found that the forest, which was new to us, 

 was not so dense as usual, and that we could progress at 

 a fair rate under cover. Looking over a high bank which 

 concealed the point for which the deer were making, I saw 

 the animals coming on fast about four hundred yards away, 

 and heading straight for our position. Here I took the 

 telescope from Saunders, who now expressed the opinion 

 that the stag was a small one ; and after bringing it to bear 

 on the horned one, I was forced to a similar conclusion. 

 The two deer now must have seen us, or changed their 

 minds as to a landing place, for they suddenly turned to a 

 right angle and gave me a good broadside view. The 

 appearance of the deer with horns now presented a some- 



