132 HUNTING CAMPS. 



necessity that compels him to fire the death-shot, and adds 

 his good wishes for the welfare of the caribou in that land 

 to which it is about to travel. This at least, if true, does 

 not suggest the spirit of the reckless slaughterer. 



After spending some fruitless days hunting the high 

 ground we turned east and south, seeing stags almost every 

 day and always stalking or attempting to stalk those we 

 saw. None of them, however, carried a head to compare 

 with the one I had already secured ; so that night after night 

 we tramped back to camp, tired and disappointed, until 

 ultimately I gave up in despair and recrossed the lake. 



I found Wynyard had shot an old stag whose horns, 

 although heavy, had " gone back/' for the animal must have 

 been well past his prime. But on the 7th of November 

 Wynyard's luck came at last, and after an admirable stalk 

 he killed two good stags, the better of the two having finer 

 tops than I have seen on a live deer in Newfoundland. His 

 success put us all in great spirits that night, in spite of the 

 unending rain which continued to fall, as it had done for so 

 many days, with something of the volume of a thunder- 

 storm, till it seemed useless to hope for fine weather. For 

 all that, on the 8th the morning broke clear, and Jack, Sam, 

 and I started out early with three packs, intending to put 

 in the last three days hunting from Selous' old camp on 

 John's Pond ; but though we set out in good time we were 

 not fated to arrive there, as some two hours later, as we 

 were carrying our outfit over the barrens, we came to a 

 high, bald knoll, from the top of which we spied three does 

 passing through a wood a mile away. As it seemed likely 

 they would be accompanied by a stag, we put down our 

 packs, and, leaving them with Sam, Jack and I started in 

 pursuit. When we sighted them the does were moving at 

 a fast walk, so we made a long circuit behind a ridge in order 

 to head them off. As soon as we turned up wind and as- 

 cended the ridge we saw the white stern of one of them in a 



