198 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
strength to hold him within anything like a moderate gait. 
A half an hour, and with an eager neigh he breaks into a 
run, under my not unwilling rein, for I, too, have caught a 
glimpse of a fire through the wood, and recognize the white 
face of yonder cliff, with the moon full upon it; and in another 
minute, with the warm blood rushing to my hieatt and brain, 
and a mad whoop of delight, I burst into the light of 
the camp-fire to be welcomed by the yells and combined 
howls of a dozen hounds, and a hearty cheer from the gallant 
Charlie! 
~ Now the scene has changed, and by the warm fire and 
over the smoking roast of tenderest venison, the feats of 
the day are recounted with as much eager zest as if there had 
been no such thing as cold, fatigue, and nervous apprehen- 
sions. The terrors have all vanished within the charmed circle 
of that fire-light, and we threw ourselves upon our blankets 
to sleep, dreaming lustily of just such scenes to be gone 
through to-morrow; only the dreams some how gave only the 
bright side of the picture, and managed to leave out all about 
freezing to death, starvation, &. So sunrise would find us 
with appetites only sharpened by the sufferings of the day 
before, and yet more ready to do full justice to the roast or 
living venison. Such are the strange inconsistencies of the 
hunter’s moods, and such the charms of the vivid shifting 
excitements of his restless and tumultuous life! He is one 
moment worse than the most ferocious wild beast, and the 
next his head is turned aside to weep that he has slain “a 
thing of beauty,” fresh from God’s own hands. _ It was thus 
our lives had fared, in camp and out, for four or five days, 
when the weather changing suddenly, the snow commenced 
to disappear rapidly. 
Our sport in the snow was now over; but we were not by 
any means satisfied, and Charlie proposed that we should 
strike our camp and make our way across the ridges to the 
hut of a famous hunter known along this border as Old Jake, 
