THE AFTER-SUPPER SMOKE 



meerschaum with ''Peerless" and swears 

 nightly that the stockings the Scaler 

 has "swapped" with him are equally as 

 strong (in odor) as the Frenchman's 

 shag he left behind him in the sleep 

 camp. 



We have fun, of course we do ; and 

 there is no wonder our compasses and 

 faces point northward sometime in Oc- 

 tober each year so that our lungs may 

 inhale the odor of the forest, and pre- 

 pare our bodies for another year's toil 

 and worry. 



The 600-mile trip to the camp is cov- 

 ered in a day and a night, and in the 

 pine-scented Nairn we bid adieu to the 

 haunts of "boiled" shirt and pressed 

 clothes, and exchange these stiffly-made 

 articles for flannel, buckskin and cor- 

 duroy that are to cover our bodies for 

 the altogether too short period in which 

 the game laws say we shall hunt the 

 deer, the moose and the caribou. 



A hunter's life is ever one of expec- 

 tation, with here and there a dash of 

 realization. " Up early in the morning ; 



on the trail before daylight, and gently 

 stepping through the woods, you are 

 ever full of anticipation, and mentally 

 conjure what you will do when that 

 antlered monarch jumps from his bed 

 or cover. All that morning you look 

 forward with pleasurable longing for 

 the supreme moment that has not yet 

 come to you. Once in a while a white- 

 tail jumps up half a mile away, and 

 flags himself out of sight. You think 

 as you see him go what you might have 

 done to have got him, and thus you go 

 on with thrills of pleasure coursing 

 through every artery. This is where 

 the attractiveness comes in, when you 

 repeat it for say ten days at a stretch, 

 and there is not a deer yet hung up, 

 you begin to wonder how long the 

 spirit of the chase will keep you 

 charmed. Each morning some new 

 ground is tried, or an old one recon- 

 noitered, so that you can overcome the 

 mistake you may have made before, all 

 the while feeling that you will yet suc- 

 ceed. 



533 



