12 Wilderness Ways. 



knew the storm was coming, when they would be 

 safe ; and so, instead of swinging off into a ten-mile 

 straightaway trot at the first alarm, they kept dodging 

 back and forth within a two-mile circle. At last, late 

 in the afternoon, I followed the trail to the edge of 

 dense evergreen thickets. Caribou generally rest in 

 open woods or on the windward edge of a barren. 

 Eyes for the open, nose for the cover, is their motto. 

 And I thought, " They know perfectly well I am fol- 

 lowing them, and so have lain down in that tangle. 

 If I go in, they will hear me ; a wood mouse could 

 hardly keep quiet in such a place. If I go round, 

 they will catch my scent; if I wait, so will they; if 

 I jump them, the scrub will cover their retreat 

 perfectly." 



As I sat down in the snow to think it over, a heavy 

 rush deep within the thicket told me that something, 

 not I certainly, had again started them. Suddenly 

 the air darkened, and above the excitement of the 

 hunt I felt the storm coming. A storm in the woods 

 is no joke when you are six miles from camp without 

 axe or blanket. I broke away from the trail and 

 started for the head of the second barren on the run. 

 If I could make that, I was safe ; for there was a 

 stream near, which led near to camp ; and one cannot 

 very well lose a stream, even in a snowstorm. But 



