IN TIMBER AND BROLfiE. 233 



In the evening, as we walked back to camp with 

 our trophies, we saw no less than thirty-two does, but 

 only a single stag, a small one, which, of course, we left in 

 peace. 



Having made so lucky a start, and having by the terms 

 of our licence only the right to shoot one more stag apiece, 

 we now, as was to be expected, at once set our standard 

 very high, a fact to which a fine stag which we sighted 

 next day probably owed his continued lease of life. This 

 stag we spied from the First Look-out, and we were cjose 

 enough to him to inspect his head almost point by point. 

 He was warrantable, but lame of the off fore-leg, a circum- 

 stance that may have caused his horns to deteriorate, for 

 although he carried twenty-two or more points, he seemed 

 to be deficient in beam, which would certainly be probable 

 were he recovering from a wound sustained during the pre- 

 vious year. 



That evening heavy snow fell, and I proceeded to improve 

 the occasion by losing our only axe. I was cutting wood, 

 and foolishly struck the axe into a log before carrying 

 another back to the camp half a mile awa}^. Being delayed 

 there by some task, it had become too dark when I returned 

 to find the axe, and by next morning it was buried under 

 a foot of snow. We experienced a difficulty in getting our 

 fire started, and indeed were quite as cold as was comfortable 

 before we succeeded in making a blaze. By great good 

 fortune I found the axe after breakfast. The snow, which 

 overlay the country, was, of course, an open advertisement 

 of the daily and nightly movements of the game in our 

 neighbourhood, but. the results of inspection were disappoint- 

 ing. A cow and a calf moose, a large number of doe cari- 

 bou, and only two sizable stag-tracks were all that a hard 

 day's travelling showed us. Judging by the large number 

 of rubbing-trees, there must have been many stags in the 

 valley earlier in the year, and it seemed probable that the 



Sa 



