220 



RECREATION 



he struck, and got the poll of the ax 

 behind. The caribou was so clost that 

 when he jumped he ripped up the toes 

 of the old man's snowshoes and sent 

 him fly-in' into the snow. He landed 

 head first in the deep snow with nothin' 

 but the heels of his snowshoes stickin' 

 out. The dog laid holt of the caribou, 

 and they went it down the hill. I sees 

 the caribou was makin' for a little road, 

 so I runs down and heads him off. 

 Down comes the caribou and the dog 

 holt of his hind leg, and I jump onto 

 the caribou's neck, a-hollerin' for help. 

 I could hear the old man up the hill, jist 

 a cursin' and swearin'. Oh, it was aw- 

 ful ! I helt onto the caribou, all mixed 

 up in the snowshoes, and between me 

 and the dog we threw the caribou, and 



Ma 



drops a line into the water and pulls 

 up and don't git the fish, and you says, 

 "Well, I never saw the like!" You 

 drops in again and pulls up and don't 

 git him that time, and you says, "I 

 never saw the like!" Now that's a 

 lie, for you'r jist seen the likes before!' 

 "One time I went up on Sisson 

 Branch Lake with a young fellow from 

 down Kesaw. He was a rattlin' good 

 cook. I wasn't much of a cook those 

 days ; but this feller was a good cook. 

 He hadn't much experience in the 

 woods. He had two guns, a shot gun and 

 a rifle, and we agreed for him to carry 

 the rifle and shoot whatever we could 

 shoot with a rifle, and I would carry 

 the shot gun and shoot whatever we 

 could shoot with a shot gun. That was 



" Tom was lookin the other way. 



I killed it. The old man was cursin' 

 with every cut of the knife. That cari- 

 bou dressed a hundred and fifty pounds 

 to the quarter. 



"One day I said somethin' to the old 

 man about his swearin' so much. 



" 'Yes,' said he, T do swear a little 

 bit; but I'm no worse than you; you 

 lie.' 



" 'Well, Mr. Scott,' says I, "I don't 

 know that I do.' 



" 'That's jist it ; you lie more'n you 

 think you do, and I swear more'n I think 

 I do. Now see here. Suppose we're 

 fishin', and I drop a hook into the water, 

 and I sees a nice fish, and I jerks up, 

 and I don't git him. Then I says 

 "Damn." I drops the line in again, 

 and I pulls up again, and don't git him. 

 Then I puts something onto the "Damn," 

 and that's the way it goes, until I'm 

 swearin' and I don't know how much I 

 am! How do you lie? I tell you. You 



so as not to tread on each other's toes. 

 He had a mighty good opinion of him- 

 self, and he cal'lated that he was a 

 rattlin' good shot with a rifle. Well, 

 we comes to a place where we had seen 

 the caribou had been travellin' along 

 a road. I sets my shot gun acrost the 

 road, with a chalk-line to the trigger, 

 and went on. Then we had nothing 

 but the rifle, and he was a great feller 

 to divide up the loads, when we were 

 travellin', so he makes me carry part 

 of the ammunition. I didn't say noth- 

 in', but I takes the powder, and we 

 walks on, the dog walkin' between us. 

 We comes to some fresh caribou tracks, 

 and he runs on ahead with the rifle, 

 leaving me behind. I hears - him fire, 

 and the next thing I sees him runnin' 

 back. How he did cuss me for not 

 having given him the powder ! He'd 

 run right onto the caribous ; they was 

 walkin' right toward him, and there 



