The Caribou 267 



care and vigilance is exercised, and the halts of 

 the hunter become more numerous and of longer 



o 



duration. In the meanwhile the object of all this 

 solicitude and strenuous endeavor is either quietly 

 chewing the cud as he rests in his grassy bed, 

 scanning at times the landscape before him, or 

 seizing mouthfuls of moss as he slowly moves 

 among the cows, upon whose more watchful 

 guardianship he relies when in their company. 

 But the breeze brings no hostile odor, and quiet 

 reigns, disturbed only by some wild bird's cry as 

 it flies over the barren. And now the supreme 

 moment has arrived, the last crouching move- 

 ment has been successfully made, the desired 

 spot from which a sure shot could be directed 

 has been reached, and the deer, unconscious of 

 danger, stands proudly erect, gazing over the land 

 he knows so well, at the mercy of his greatest 

 enemy. A rising, fleeting vapor above a near- 

 lying rock, a sharp crack hardly disturbing the 

 silence of the wide barren, and the lordly bull 

 falls headlong to the ground, while the cows, 

 startled, trot rapidly away for a short distance and 

 then turn and stop, to learn the cause of their 

 fears. 



One other way of capturing caribou is attempted, 

 and of all those adopted is probably the most 

 successful. This is following the animal on snow- 

 shoes. Caribou are very swift, their gaits being 



