FURTHER DAYS. 247 



in spite of their weight, are seldom so symmetrical and 

 show far fewer points. A glance now assured me that the 

 stag, moving with his slow, rather cow-hocked action from 

 the trees, bore an unusually fine head, and the idea occurred 

 to my mind that he might be the very stag that Ross and 

 Howard had seen with the big herd. He walked on and 

 then stood still, giving me a steady broadside shot. I 

 heard the bullet strike, but the next moment the whole 

 three had stampeded, the does doubling back and running 

 between me and the wounded stag. When they had passed 

 and I could get in a clear shot, I fired again twice. On 

 receiving the second bullet the stag fell. 



When I reached him he was quite dead, and I realised 

 that I had shot a truly fine specimen of the mainland deer. 

 On his horns, which were well grown and palmated every- 

 where, save in the case of one brow, I counted twenty-nine 

 points, a greater number than is usual with a Canadian 

 woodland caribou. After cleaning the stag I left him 

 lying, meaning to take off the head and head-skin on my 

 return, and once more pursued my way. Just over the 

 summit of the rise beyond, and within five hundred yards 

 of the spot from which I had shot the caribou, I came upon 

 the tracks of what must have been a very large bull moose. 

 Had I not seen and killed the caribou, I should certainly 

 have gone over this rise, and on the open ground behind it 

 would probably have seen the moose standing at not more 

 than a hundred yards distance. Even though I had secured 

 the big caribou, I am afraid I wished for a moment that I 

 had never laid eyes upon him. 



Knowing, however, that moose do not invariably travel 

 far even when startled, I took up the trail and followed it 

 through a marsh scored all over with caribou tracks, and 

 then climbed the flank of a hill, of which the slopes were 

 covered with birch trees. On the farther side of this hill 

 the bull had gone into some thick green timber, where 



