was still
heavy with it, and every bush and branch dripped with moisture. It was
a poor day for hunting, for the eye could not see forty yards; but it
suited my purpose, since the dull air would deaden the noise of my
musket. I was hunting alone in a strange land among imminent perils,
and my aim was not to glorify my skill, but to find the means of life.
The thought strung me up to a mood where delight was more notable than
care. I was adventuring with only my hand to guard me in those ancient,
haunted woods, where no white man had ever before travelled. To
experience such moments is to live with the high fervour which God gave
to mortals before towns and laws laid their dreary spell upon them.

Early in the day I met a bear--the second I had seen in my life. I did
not want him, and he disregarded me and shuffled grumpily down the
hill-side. I had to be very careful, I remember, to mark my path, so
that I could retrace it, and I followed the Border device of making a
chip here and there in the bark of trees, and often looking backward to
remember the look of the place when seen from the contrary side. Trails
were easy to find on the soft ground, but besides the bear I saw none
but those of squirrel and rabbit, and a rare opossum. But at last, in a
marshy glen, I found the fresh slot of a great stag. For two hours and
more I followed him far north along the ridge, till I came up with him
in a patch of scrub oak. I had to wait long for a shot, but when at
last he rose I planted a bullet fairly behind his shoulder, and he
dropped within ten paces. His size amazed me, for he was as big as a
cart-horse in body, and carried a spread of branching antlers like a
forest tree. To me, accustomed to the little deer of the Tidewater,
this great creature seemed a portent, and I guessed that he was that
elk which I had heard of from the Border hunters. Anyhow he gave me
wealth of food. I hid some in a cool place, and took the rest with me,
packed in bark, in a great bundle on my shoulders.

The road back was easier than I had feared, for I had the slope of the
hill to guide me; but I was mortally weary of my load before I plumped
it down inside the stockade. Presently Bertrand and Donaldson returned.
They brought only a few rabbits, but they had set many traps, and in a
hill burn they had caught some fine golden-bellied trout. Soon venison
steaks and fish were grilling in the embers, and Elspeth set to baking
cakes on a griddle. Th