220 HUNTING CAMPS. 



much more than two hundred yards away. One was a 

 stag, carrying, as far as I could judge, a head of twelve or 

 fourteen points. I had no wish to shoot such an animal, 

 and finding that Edward was of the same mind, was about 

 to give the order to turn and leave them in peace, when 

 the cook intervened. To him a caribou was a caribou ; 

 the question as to whether it was a good or a bad caribou 

 depended entirely upon its fatness, and in a lesser degree 

 upon the accessibility of the spot where it might be shot. 

 Having asked and received leave, the cook picked up Ed's 

 rifle and fired at the young stag. The first shot evidently 

 did not hit him, for after pausing for a moment he went 

 off among the trees, at the peculiar mile-eating gait of his 

 kind, his motions being accelerated by three more shots, 

 one of which struck the water in his very close proximity. 



The next day, having at last arrived at our chosen 

 hunting-ground, we were astir before the dawn. Hitherto 

 travelling had occupied a large portion of our time, for 

 the river up which we had just journeyed had not been 

 traversed by canoe before ; at least, we could gather no 

 rumour of its having been done, and where the stream 

 narrowed a number of deadfalls made it clear that no one 

 had passed that way for, at any rate, a number of years. 



We carried the canoe down to the water before it was 

 light, as there had been a strong frost and the lake was 

 frozen over almost its whole extent. It therefore took us 

 some time to make our way across to the point where the 

 caribou had been observed upon the previous evening. 

 At length the sun rose from a white bank of cloud, giving 

 enough light to make clear some of the features of the 

 landscape. It was very satisfactory to see that at last 

 we had left behind us the seemingly endless green timber, 

 through which progress had been so slow. Now, at last, 

 it looked not only as if the country might hold caribou, 

 but as if one would be able to see them were they there. 



