THE CARIBOO. 39 
for see, Billy has settled down on his track, and is in 
chase. 
“*On with your snow-shoes, and away !—the track 
with the blood will be plain as a van wagon—if you 
come up with the Cariboo, do not fire unless you are 
sure to kill. I must stop and see if the Indian is much 
hurt, and swab out my rifle—but I will soon overtake 
¢ you—away now!’ 
“So urged, I started off, and found large drops of 
blood on the track the prime little dog had taken. As I 
proceeded, I saw the strides of the Cariboo were shorter, 
and he had been down several times. As I pressed on, 
in great hopes of overtaking the game before Howard 
came up, I observed the Cariboo had made for the valley, 
and after a sharp walk of an hour, I came to the stream, 
which was open. Here I lost the track, but saw the 
marks of the dog down the stream—these I followed, 
and soon heard the baying of the dog. As I proceeded, 
the river was every moment more rapid. After a sharp 
turn the stream was compressed between two huge cliffs, 
and rushed down a water-gap, forming a cascade of nearly 
one hundred feet. To the very verge of the fall the 
river was open; but over the fall itself there was a thin 
coating of transparent ice, which clung to the perpen- 
dicular cliffs on each side of the narrow gap, forming a 
gauze-like veil. The towering cliffs around were covered 
with a frosting of ice; and from the stunted pines which 
clung to the barren rock, hung myriads of fantastic 
