CARIBOO HUNTING. 



146 



an unlimited supply of fuel ; a small spring trickled 

 down the hill-side close by. 



As we unpacked our bundles to get at the ammunition 

 (for we were determined to have a cruise around before 

 dark), Noel told us that he had, early that same morning, 

 missed a cariboo not more than a mile from camp. Wc 

 started in different directions, I with Noel, and my 

 comrade with the older hunter. It was a bright, frosty 

 afternoon, very calm, and the beautiful woods still re- 

 tained their oppressive loads of heavy snow, rendering it 

 very difficult to see game between the thickly-growing 

 evergreens. Noel first followed a line of marten traps of 

 his own setting — little dead-falls occurring eveiy fifty 

 yards or so in a line through the woods for nearly a mile. 

 There was nothing in them, though I saw several tracks 

 of marten on the snow. Fox-tracks, and those of the 

 little American hare, commonly called the rabbit, on 

 which the fox preys, were exceedingly numerous, and 

 there was a fair sprinkling of the other tracks which are 

 usually found on the snow in the forest, such as lucifee 

 or wild cat, porcupine, partridge, and squirrel. Pre- 

 sently Noel gave a satisfactory grunt, and pointed to the 

 surface of the snow ahead, which was evidently broken 

 by the track of some large animal. 



"Fresh track, caliboo,* thees mornin','' whispered he, 

 as we came up to the trail of two cariboo, which had 

 gone down wind, and in the direction of some large 

 barrens which Noel said lay about a mile away. We 

 might yet have a chance by daylight, so on we went 

 pretty briskly, though cautiously. Noel pointed out 

 several times small pieces which had been bitten off" the 



* The Indians pronounce the letter r as 1. 



