Megaleep the Wanderer. 9 



and deeply cleft, so as to spread widely when his 

 weight is on them. When you first find his track 

 in the snow, you rub your eyes, thinking that a huge 

 ox must have passed that way. ' The dew-claws are 

 also large, and the ankle joint so flexible that it lets 

 them down upon the snow. So Megaleep has a 

 kind of natural snowshoe with which he .moves easily 

 over the crust, and, except in very deep, soft snows, 

 wanders at will, while other deer are prisoners in 

 their yards. It is the snapping of these loose hoofs 

 and ankle joints that makes the merry clacking sound 

 as caribou run. 



Sometimes, however, they overestimate their abili- 

 ties, and their wandering disposition brings them into 

 trouble. Once I found a herd of seven up to their 

 backs in soft snow, and tired out, — a strange condition 

 for a caribou to be in. They were taking the affair 

 philosophically, resting till they should gather strength 

 to flounder to some spruce tops where moss was plenty. 

 When I approached gently on snowshoes (I had been 

 hunting them diligently the week before to kill them ; 

 but this put a different face on the matter) they 

 gave a bound or two, then settled deep in the snow, 

 and turned their heads and said with their great soft 

 eyes : " You have hunted us. Here we are, at your 

 mercy." 



