formed icicles on my beard and whiskers, that
jingled like bells as I shook my head, and
dismissed one project after another. I took
out my pipe to console myself with a smoke;
alas, on feeling for tobacco, that was gone
too. I looked at the North star, and
calculated, by the position of the Plough, that it
must have been about ten o'clock—the time
in England when we discuss a bottle of the
best with our knees under the mahogany,
awaiting the summons to the drawing-room.
I endeavoured to trace familiar faces in the
glowing embers till I almost heard the rustling
of fresh white crêpe dresses round me; when
hark! I did hear a rustle—it approaches
nearer and nearer, and I recognise the scraping
of Ismah's travail on the snow; another
moment and the panting rascal was at my
side! Nothing of the load missing or injured.
I laughed aloud from sheer joy at the cringing
movements by which he showed how well he
knew that he had behaved very ill, but
I was too well pleased to beat him.
I had nothing more to do but unpack,
make my bed, cook our supper, and go to
sleep."

On the same journey the hunter again fell
short of meat; for one day he sought game
in vain, without coming on a single track.
On the second day he saw Wapiti deer, but
was unable to get near them. That night,
tired and hungry, he dreamed continually of
delicious feasts and hospitable friends, and
waked all the more hungry and disappointed.
On the third day, having had no solace but
a pipe, he hunted hard without success, and
suffered less from hunger than on the second
day. He was upheld by the confidence that
sooner or later he would fall in with game.
At length he came upon the fresh tracks
of deer, zig-zagging, as they do before lying
down. He says: "I remained perfectly still,
looking intently, with eyes sharpened by
hunger, at the copse; something stirred in
the willows—it was a deer going out to feed;
most fortunately he came on towards me,
slowly feeding, until he approached to within
about one hundred yards, and stopped. I
drew up my rifle; but he came still nearer,
feeding slowly forward, until scarcely sixty
yards off, when I took a steady deliberate
shot as he turned his flank towards me. I
heard the bullet crack against his shoulder;
he rushed a short distance back, and rolled
over in the snow. Wood was close at hand.
I made a fire, cut, broiled, and eat sparingly
of a little venison; fed my dog. Then made
a rope of the deer-skin, and dragged the
carcase to my camp of the previous night,
cooked and eat an enormous supper, smoked
my pipe, and slept comfortably."

At length Mr. Palliser reached a hunter's
paradise on the Yellow Stone River; built
himself a boat of bull's hide, with willow
frames, to carry his baggage, spoils, and
attendants; manufactured a shirt and
breeches of deer-skin, and encamped and
enjoyed himself. "If I wished to shoot
from horseback, a ride of a few miles afforded
sport after buffalo; if to stalk Wapiti
deer, or black-tailed, there were plenty to
be had, with enough toil and labour to
afford sport; grosses corves (wild sheep) were
to be seen balancing themselves on the
tops of cliffs as I sat in my own camp; lots
of pheasants were handy on the prairie,
antelopes were constantly bounding past,
and many a prowling wolf received a bullet
while feeding on offal, cunningly disposed to
tempt him. The dinners of this Yellow Stone
camp would make a European epicure's
mouth water—buffalo tongues and humps,
elk meat and venison, antelopes' livers, wild
mutton, and cat fish, which is a sort of
miniature fresh-water dolphin, white, firm,
and rich, marrow-bones of buffalo bulls,
with a fair supply of coffee and sugar;"
bread is not mentioned.

But our hunter could find no grisly bear.
Their fresh tracks were found, but the
monsters were gone. This grisly bear, when
full-grown, measures eight feet six inches
from muzzle to stern, and about that size
round the body, with feet eighteen inches in
length, armed with claws five inches long—
a lion cannot be more formidable.

One day, having shot a fine buck, he heard
Dauphin, a French Canadian, one of a party
he had joined, cry loudly, "Monsieur, venez
ici!" (Come here, Sir!), and, looking up, saw
him disappearing at his best pace over the
brow of a hill; Palliser, following with his
loaded rifle, beheld a bear standing on his
hind legs staring about while Dauphin, concealed
behind a rock, was industriously
snapping a pistol that would not go off. First
master and then man took a shot with the
same rifle; and then Mr. Palliser, in spite,
of the remonstrances of Dauphin, followed
the enemy into a clump of trees, and finished
him. "He was young, only in his third year,
but he measured five feet four inches from
the rump to the muzzle, and had he been full
grown it would certainly have fared badly
with us."

The next grisly bear adventure was with
a five year old female with two cubs, who
chased Boncharville as he was washing his
carbine at a river. "I at first ran to assist
my companion; but, seeing the bear at fault,
I rushed back to secure my horse, fearing
that, on smelling the bear, he would gallop
off and be lost on the prairie for ever.
Seeing me run the bear charged after me; I
rolled the halter round my arm and prepared
to face her—had my horse flinched I had
been lost—she rose on her hind legs, then
turned aside, and followed her cub. I fired
through the bushes, but only hit her far back
in the flank, on which she stopped, wheeled
round and round, tore at her side with her
teeth and claws, and allowed me, fortunately,
sufficient time to load again; my ball was
hardly down when Boncharville cried out,