FOR LIFE OR DEATH. 321 
f oiler the brook straight up. We'll meet, say, two mile 
above here. See ? " 
The two nodded intelligently, examined the locks of 
their pieces, and disappeared almost as quickly as had the 
startled caribou. 
With beating heart in spite of his long experience in 
the woods, Solomon started up the bed of the brook. It 
was very hard walking indeed. The stones of the stream 
were coated with ice, which in its turn was covered with 
a thin layer of snow. Again and again the hunter slipped 
and stumbled, bruising his hands and limbs, and wrench- 
ing his ankles. Before long he struck abundant " sign " 
of caribou. The snow was fairly trampled hard in some 
places, where the water was open, and the animals had 
often come to drink. 
Creeping cautiously along, he worked his way upward, 
now crouching beneath snow-laden fir-boughs, now walk- 
ing upright for a few steps, now crawling on his hands 
and knees. After about a mile of this sort of work, the 
ground became more level. The brook was frozen solid, 
and formed an admirable highway, of which the stags had 
evidently availed themselves. 
A sudden turn of the banks brought the hunter out 
upon the margin of a small pond or lake, perhaps three- 
quarters of a mile long by an eighth wide. The hills rose 
precipitously from its shores on either side, giving it 
almost the appearance of a broad canon, and forming a 
scene of striking grandeur. 
