myriads of snow-crystals which
reflected the dazzling sun with prismatic splendour.

Indeed, the scene was too dazzling, and as there was a tendency in it to
produce snow-blindness, we soon returned to the friendly shelter of the
woods.

"Tracks!" exclaimed Lumley, in a low voice, pointing to the ground,
where footmarks were clearly visible, "and fresh," he added, turning up
the snow under the track with the butt of his gun.

"Ptarmigan!" said I in a whisper, pointing towards a little knoll, not
quite a gunshot ahead of us, where some dozens of the beautiful
snow-white creatures stood gazing at us in motionless surprise. Their
plumage was so white that we had not observed them at first, almost the
only black specks about them being their sparkling eyes, and the tips of
their wings and tails.

Our guns were pointed instantly. I am ashamed to say that we were
guilty of shooting them as they stood! In that land we shot for food as
much as for amusement, and, some of us being poor shots, we were glad to
take our game sitting! Nay, more, we tried to get as many of the birds
in line as possible, so as to make the most of our ammunition. We were
not sportsmen in the civilised sense of that term.

The extreme stillness of the woods was broken by the report of our guns
in quick succession. A very cloud of pure white birds arose, as if
Nature had taken to snowing upwards in rather large flakes, and seven
victims remained behind.

"A good supper," remarked Lumley, as we bagged the game and re-loaded.

It is not my intention here to describe a day's shooting. Let it
suffice to say that a little before nightfall we arrived at a place
where was a snowy mound capped by a clump of spruce firs of small size
but picturesque appearance.

"Behold our camp!" said Lumley.

"Not inviting at present," said I, as we slowly toiled up the mound, for
we were weary, having walked about twenty miles, weighted with heavy
flannel-lined deerskin-coats, blankets, and cooking utensils, besides a
small quantity of pemmican, sugar, tea, and ship's biscuit, axes and
firebags. It is true, the cooking utensils were few and simple,
consisting of only two tin kettles and two tin mugs.

Dreary indeed--lonesome, desolate, and eerie was our mound when we got
to the top of it. By that time the sun had set, and a universal ghostly
grey, fast deepening into night, banished every sensation of joy aroused
by the previous lightness. Although the s