"Didn't We Come To Shoot?" But
He Was Amenable To Discipline, And Did As I Wished When He Understood.
Now on the top of that windy ridge I sat with this copper-coloured
child of the spruce woods, to watch these cattle of the plains.
The Caribou is a travelsome beast, always in a hurry, going against
the wind. When the wind is west, all travel west; when it veers,
they veer. Now the wind was northerly, and all were going north,
not walking, not galloping - the Caribou rarely gallops, and then
only for a moment or two; his fast gait is a steady trot a 10-mile
gait, making with stops about 6 miles an hour. But they are ever
on the move; when you see a Caribou that does not move, you know
at once it is not a Caribou; it's a rock.
We sat down on the hill at 3. In a few minutes a cow Caribou came
trotting from the south, caught the wind at 50 yards, and dashed
away.
In 5 minutes another, in 20 minutes a young buck, in 20 minutes
more a big buck, in 10 minutes a great herd of about 500 appeared
in the south. They came along at full trot, lined to pass us on the
southeast. At half a mile they struck our scent and all recoiled as
though we were among them. They scattered in alarm, rushed south
again, then, gathered in solid body, came on as before, again
to spring back and scatter as they caught the taint of man.
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