A FALL HUNTING TRIP. 103 



set forth and spent the day hunting, sometimes seeing the 

 stags on the open barrens, sometimes following them into 

 the woods, in the sunny spaces of which they loved to lie 

 and enjoy their rest. At midday we had our lunch of tea, 

 bread, and smoked trout, and then hunted till dark, often 

 making our way back to the camp by moonlight, to find 

 the evening meal waiting for us by the fire. After that 

 came successive pipes, the forecasts, meteorological and 

 otherwise, for the morrow, then the sleeping bags and splen- 

 did, dreamless sleep. 



The 3oth of October was another of my best days, for I 

 met with numerous squads of deer trooping southwards. 

 During the middle hours of the day these deer lay down 

 among the patches of wood which surround Island Pond. 

 Some description of the place is necessary. I cannot say 

 how wide or how long this pond may be, for I never had a 

 full view of it, part being always hidden by the trees cluster- 

 ing upon the many islets which, as in the case of nearly all 

 pieces of water in this district, dot its waters. On the day 

 I write of it was covered with a thin sheet of ice. The 

 morning turned out fine, cold, and invigorating, and we were 

 early away from camp. We walked some miles in a north- 

 erly direction, passing the spot where we had killed the big 

 caribou two days before. On this occasion we did not see 

 any stags until we were some three miles from camp, when 

 with the glass we descried a pair of antlers moving above 

 some bushes on the sky-line. The animal to which they 

 belonged was evidently feeding, while between us and him 

 lay a valley and a rise covered with woods. He was on a 

 barren beyond these, and was sheltered by some small 

 spruces that prevented our getting a very good view of him. 

 So we descended into the valley and found a deer-path 

 leading through the trees and glades. This we followed, 

 and were cautiously crawling behind the spruces when the 

 stag nearly ran into us as he came mooning along the very 



