128 HUNTING CAMPS. 



to the stag, so that long before he was opposite us the tele- 

 scope had been levelled upon his horns. They were very 

 long and thin, rather of the Norwegian reindeer than of the 

 caribou type. I was half tempted to shoot, as the head was 

 more than a fair one, but the uncertainty as to whether 

 the left horn, which was farthest from us, was as good as 

 the right made me pause. In time the stag returned on 

 his course and presently crossed within a hundred yards. 

 It was now perfectly clear that he was not more than a five 

 or six year old, so, giving up all thoughts of a shot, I spent 

 the gloaming within a few yards of this beautiful creature, 

 finally slipping away unnoticed and returning to camp full 

 of hopes for the morrow. 



Almost throughout the trip, as I have said, we had 

 been the victims of a kind of weather which, more than any 

 other, is unfriendly to the stalker. The days had been 

 nearly without exception darkened by successive squalls of 

 rain or melting snow, yet each evening it had blown clear 

 and the nights had been frosty and starlit. In these cir- 

 cumstances we rejoiced to hear the wind roaring in the trees 

 and shower after shower of sleet beating upon our lean-to 

 throughout the entire night, for we made sure that morning 

 would bring a change for the better. 



This was exactly what happened. The sun rose un- 

 clouded and bright, and, stepping out of camp, we were 

 at once greeted by a sight of the three stags which we had 

 seen upon the previous evening. They were easily recog- 

 nisable through the telescope, so we wasted no time in stalk- 

 ing them, but, taking a long cast to the northward, were soon 

 able to see over a large extent of country, upon which, 

 however, nothing seemed to be moving. The early hours 

 of the morning brought no good fortune, and it must have 

 been nearly midday when, in the hollow between two roll- 

 ing hummocks, we came upon a large flat rock. The top 

 of this rock formed a slight depression filled with shallow 



