ON THE GANDER RIVER. 207 



the fall of the deer. Our canoe was quickly launched, and 

 we were soon beside its body. I was now convinced that 

 this was the same animal I had seen a fortnight earlier ; 

 there was no mistaking the long, even bays. Besides, the 

 spot v/here I killed it was scarcely more than half a mile 

 from the place where I originally saw it. The bays measured 

 thirteen and a half inches in length of palmation. 



After gralloching the stag we left it otherwise untouched 

 in order to photograph it on the morrow, and returned to 

 camp, where we spent one of the cheeriest evenings I can 

 remember, in spite of the dismal weather, the wet ground, 

 and the sputtering fire. 



It was while we were at this camp that an Indian ap- 

 peared, travelling down the bank of the river from the west. 

 After a few minutes' conversation he went on his way, only, 

 however, to return again, this time carrying a caribou head 

 of thirty-one points, which he said he had killed earlier in the 

 year and hidden in a bush near by. He wished, of course, 

 to sell me the horns, offering them for $5, and he did not 

 at all understand my refusal to buy them at that or any 

 other price. 



" But," he said, " have you not come here into the 

 middle of Newfoundland to shoot stags ! " I tried to make 

 him understand that that was precisely why I would not 

 buy, as the horns of a stag which he had shot were of no 

 value to me. The young Indian was silent for a time. 

 " Still," said he at last, " no one would ever know you did 

 not shoot this stag yourself." I pointed out that one person, 

 at any rate, would know, however hard I tried to deceive 

 him, and that he happened to be a person of some impor- 

 tance to me. " Your guide ? " suggested the Indian. After 

 I had explained that I meant myself, he stared at me stolidly 

 for a minute, then said he would take the horns to Glenwood 

 and sell them at the railway there. He wound up by asking 

 me if I had shot any stags. My stags were hidden under 



