findin' we couldn't even get them
into a canoe at th' landin' 'thout upsettin' or knockin' th' bottom outen
her, we had t' help them into a thirty-foot 'pointer' made t' carry a
crew o' eight shantymen 'n' their supplies on the spring drives, 'n' then
had t' pull our damnedest t' get them across th' lake 'fore they upset
her, jumpin' 'round 't shoot at somethin' they couldn't hit!

"'N' eat! Well, they ate a few! We was only out for two weeks, 'n' when
we loaded th' teams 'peared t' me like we had 'nough feed for six months,
but after th' first meal 't looked t' me we'd be down t' eatin' what we
could kill inside o' a week. Looked like no human's stummick could hold
all they put in their faces, 'n' brother, he said he thought their legs
'n' arms must be holler.

"'N' sleep! When 't come t' wakin' of 'em up th' next mornin' they was
like a pair o' bears that 'd holed up for th' winter, 'n' it nigh took
violence t' get 'em out at all. We started in runnin' th' hounds, 'n'
brother 'n' me had the best on th' Gatineau--Frank 'n' Loud, 'n' old
Blue, 'n' Spot--dogs that can scent a deer trail 's far 's Erne Moore can
smell supper cookin', 'n' that 's far from home 's Le Blanc farm his
father used to own, over Kagama way, 'bout eight miles from Pickanock,
where he lives. We run th' dogs for four days, 'n' it was discouragin',
most discouragin'. Country was full o' deer when we was last out, three
weeks before, 'n' th' dogs voiced 'n' seemed t' run plenty right down to
'n' past where we'd sot th' two on th' runways; but they swore they never
see nothin', said th' hounds been runnin' on old scent, sign made the
night before.

"Then brother 'n' me took t' doggin' too, makin' six dogs, 'n' givin' us
a chance t' see anythin' that jumped up in th' bush. Still nothin' came
past 'em, they said, though we saw many a deer jump up out o' th' swamps
'n' go white flaggin' theirselves down th' runways toward the two
'hunters.'

"We just couldn't understand it 'n' made up our minds t' try 'n' find out
why they never got t' see none.

"So the sixth day I placed one o' them myself on a runway half as wide
'n' beat most 's hard 's th' Government road, full o' fresh sign, picked
a place where a big pine stump stood plumb in th' middle o' th' runway,
'n' sot him behind it where he had a open view thirty yards up th' runway
th' direction we'd be doggin' from.

"Then I let on t' break through th' bush t' th' swamp we was goin' t'
dog