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Sintamaskin 



was not yet frozen — a significant fact with the 

 temperature still well below the zero point. 

 There was no whispering now ; we raised our 

 eyes to the shore, which was in shade and 

 fringed with a dense growth of cedars. Too 

 bad — they had gone up into the woods ; it 

 was past midday, and too late to follow them 

 far ; if we had only got here a little sooner ! 

 But hold on ! What's that ? In the gloom 

 of the dark cedars I saw a dim gray shape, 

 motionless ; then another. And now I real- 

 ized that I had done a foolish thing, one that 

 some years of experience should have taught 

 me to avoid : I had left the cover on my rifle. 

 Slowly and cautiously I drew it off, not daring 

 to make a sudden movement, but breathless 

 with the fear that the game might start ; for 

 one jump into the bush and the only chance 

 would be gone. My heart was beating so 

 that I wondered if the caribou would not hear 

 it, when just as I got the rifle free they 

 started — not two of them, but three, and rot 

 into the woods, but straight across us out over 

 the lake, about a hundred yards away. They 

 were running, and with a swiftness that de- 

 manded quick shooting, and that was surpris- 

 ing in snow which, though less deep here than 



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