The tents were soon put up, and the
boys started off to carry in the two carcasses that "Alex" had shot and
buried under stones. Presently the hunters who went off with "Sam" came
back, saying they had seen nothing, and later "Sam" came in with the
skin of a big buck which he had shot. He is quite young, but one of the
best and most indefatigable hunters in the tribe.
I went out in the morning with "Sam" and "Roxy" to find some deer.
After some wanderings, in which "Sam" got separated from us, and after
several unsuccessful shots at the game, "Roxy" and I returned, I being
too weary and footsore to find much interest in the sport, especially
as it began to rain and was bitter cold. In fact, the first new ice I
have seen this summer was around the shores of the lake that morning,
and I had to break it when I went down to bathe. On our way home we
passed, on the top of a high, barren hill, a cairn, which "Roxy" at
once said had been built by the Kinnepatoos, a tribe which formerly
occupied these lands, and the boys soon threw aside the stones to find
the dried-up skeleton of a deer killed many years ago. "Sam" did not
get back until dark, but he brought with him the skin of an isaacer
that he had killed since he left us.
That night I proposed to "Sam" to bring me down to our tent at the salt
water, and though I could see that he did not relish leaving the good
hunting-grounds just as he had reached them, he consented, and finally
seemed delighted when I promised him an old pair of pantaloons for his
trouble.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47