or the
first time he observed that the bright sky of the morning had become
overcast with a film of hazy cloud and that the temperature was rapidly
falling. Prudence suggested that he should at once make his way back to
camp, but with the instinct of the true hunter he was loath to abandon
the poor wounded beast to its unhappy fate. He resolved to make one
further attempt. Refreshed by his brief rest, but with an increasing
sense of pain in his foot, he climbed the slight rising ground before
him, cautiously pushed his way through some scrub, and there, within
easy shot, stood the buck, with drooping head and evidently with
strength nearly done. Cameron took careful aim--there must be no mistake
this time--and fired. The buck leaped high in the air, dropped and lay
still. The first shot had broken his leg, the second had pierced his
heart.

Cameron hurried forward and proceeded to skin the animal. But soon
he abandoned this operation. "We'll come and get him to-morrow," he
muttered, "and he is better with his skin on. Meantime we'll have a
steak, however." He hung a bit of skin from a pole to keep off the
wolves and selected a choice cut for the supper. He worked hurriedly,
for the sudden drop in the temperature was ominous of a serious
disturbance in the weather, but before he had finished he was startled
to observe a large snowflake lazily flutter to the ground beside him.
He glanced towards the sky and found that the filmy clouds were rapidly
assuming definite shape and that the sun had almost disappeared.
Hurriedly he took his bearings and, calculating as best he could the
direction of the camp, set off, well satisfied with the outcome of his
expedition and filled with the pleasing anticipation of a venison supper
for himself and the rest of the gang.

The country was for the most part open except for patches of timber here
and there, and with a clear sky the difficulty of maintaining direction
would have been but slight. With the sky overcast, however, this
difficulty was sensibly increased. He had not kept an accurate reckoning
of his course, but from the character of the ground he knew that he
must be a considerable distance westward of the line of the camp. His
training during the winter in holding a line of march helped him now to
maintain his course steadily in one direction. The temperature was still
dropping rapidly. Over the woods hung a dead stillness, except for the
lonely call of an occasional crow or