h our three rifles, and took
the route up the valley. As we passed along under high trees, we could
see squirrels upon all sides of us; some of them sitting on their
hind-quarters like little monkeys; some of them cracking nuts; some of
them barking like toy-dogs; while others, again, leaped about among the
branches. As we advanced upon them, they sprang up the trees, or
streaked off along the ground so swiftly that it seemed more like the
flight of a bird than the running of a four-footed animal. On reaching
a tree they would gallop up it, generally keeping on the opposite side
to that on which we were, so that they might be secure. Sometimes,
however, their curiosity would get the better of their fears, and when
they had climbed as high as the first or second forking or the branches,
they would stop there and gaze down upon us, all the while flourishing
their light bushy tails. We had excellent opportunities of getting a
shot at them, and Harry, who was not so thoughtful as his brother,
wished very much to try his skill; but I forbade this, telling him that
we could not afford to throw away our ammunition on such small game.
Indeed, this was a thought that frequently entered my mind, and made me
anxious about what we should do when our ammunition became exhausted. I
cautioned both my boys, therefore, not to spend a single shot on any
animal smaller than elk or deer, and they promised to obey me.

"When we had gone about a mile up-stream, we saw that the trees grew
thinner as we advanced, and then opened into small glades, or spaces
covered with herbage and flowers, usually called `openings.' This,
surely, was the very place to find deer--much more likely than in the
thick woods, where these animals are in more danger from the cougar and
carcajou, that occasionally drop upon them from the trees. We had not
gone far among these openings, before we saw fresh tracks. They were
more like the tracks of a goat than those of a deer, except that they
were much larger. They were nearly as large as the tracks of the elk,
but we knew they were not these.

"We advanced with great caution, keeping in the underwood as much as
possible. At length we saw that there was a large glade before us, much
larger than any we had yet passed. We could tell this by the wide clear
spaces that appeared through the trees. We stole silently forward to
the edge of this glade, and, to our great satisfaction, saw a herd of
deer feeding qu