HUNTING ON THE UPPER GANDER 131 



over the break, into which, after removing the flooring, we 

 poured about a pound of melted deer's fat. Saunders said 

 that we could not utilise the skin until we had another, as the 

 two must be laced together, and one was of no use. Accord- 

 ingly I set out about midday, and made about four miles, when 

 I reached the spot where I had missed the stag coming up 

 the river. The view on either side was wide, and two well- 

 used crossing places led across the stream within easy running 

 distance. The afternoon passed away, and nothing appeared, 

 not even the canoes, for on this day the rocks broke the 

 strongest of the two boats and caused endless delays ; so I 

 took a book out of my pocket and was soon lost with Rider 

 Haggard in the heart of Africa. In a country so peaceful, 

 so still as the land of the northern forests, one is quick to 

 recognise the slightest noise. That remarkable woman "She" 

 was about to drink again the fires of eternal life, and her 

 speech at this exciting moment simply grips the reader, for 

 it is the best thing in a remarkable work. Yet it was in 

 no spirit of disappointment that I dropped the book softly 

 on the stones at my side — for had I not heard some pebbles 

 roll down the bank on the far side of the river ? I looked 

 up, and there was a large brown doe coming down to drink. 

 For a female she carried remarkable horns, about as large 

 as the specimen I had killed in the previous year, and with 

 thirteen good points. She entered the stream exactly oppo- 

 site to the rock beside which I was seated, and, after drinking, 

 marched slowly across the river towards me. It was a good 

 opportunity for the camera. The sun was upon her, and 

 I knew she would cross close to me, but the camera was 

 far away at Glenwood. I lay under the shadow of the rock, 

 and she came right on to within six yards, looking inquisi- 

 tively at me as I crouched there with my arm in front of my 



