aribou was his. I told him it was
mine, when he pulled his gun and I shot him--that's all," said
MacDougall.

"That's plent'," tersely from Pete. Then casting his eye over the sky he
said: "Snow cum quick,--hide um. We cut caribou," whereupon he whipped
out a big hunting knife, after placing his rifle in the crotch of a
tree, and began slashing the still warm body of the big caribou.

MacDougall followed suit. It was not long before the two had selected
and cut away the choice parts of the carcass, and with as much of the
meat as they could handle, made their way back to camp. Pete and his
Indians, with dog-teams, were dispatched to the scene of the double
tragedy for the remainder.

The dead Indian was left as he fell, and falling snow soon covered him.

That night the Canadians pushed on without resting, laden with as much
meat as they could carry. It was thought safest not to remain long in
the vicinity, as some of the Peel River Indians might track the murderer
of their brother.

The dogs had feasted on caribou as well as the men, and all could return
to the long trail with redoubled energy. More large game was seen, and
from this on there was no lack of venison.

Ptarmigan, too, made a variety of eating. The snow-white beauties were
never tired of, but furnished food equally as good as the caribou. The
miners were given a pleasant surprise one evening when George
MacDougall cleaned the birds for his breakfast. Three or four peculiar
looking pebbles rolled out of the craw of the bird he was handling and
fell upon the ground. Stooping, he picked them up.

"Gad! What's this?"

"He then made an examination.

"Here you, Indian! Get some ice and melt it. I want to wash these
stones. If they are stones, I'll eat 'em. I believe they're gold
nuggets," he added to his brother, at which the latter crawled out of
his fur sleeping bag to investigate.

They were now in a gold-bearing country. Of this MacDougall felt
assured. The nuggets found in the craw of the ptarmigan, though not
large, were of pure gold, and once clean of filth looked good to the
eyes of the patient prospectors. They had certainly come from the bars
of some stream, which, in an exposed place, had been wind-swept,
furnishing the grouse a late feeding ground when tundra berries were
covered with snow. To be sure, not much nourishment could have been
gotten from the nuggets, but the latter had answered the purpose of
pebbles in mastication processe