We had as yet had no use for our dogs since we left the Saranac. They
had travelled quietly with us as we moved from place to place, or
stayed inactive at the tents while we remained stationary. The game
was so abundant, that the real difficulty was to restrain ourselves
from destroying more than was needful for our use. We had indeed,
failed to live strictly up to the law we had imposed upon ourselves,
for we had at all times trout and venison beyond our present wants,
excusing ourselves on the ground that an excess of supply was always
preferable to a scant commissariat. More than one deer was
slaughtered, if the truth must be told, for no better reason than that
given by an Irishman for smashing a bald head he chanced to see at a
window: it presented a mark too tempting to be resisted the lake
from our camping ground. We stationed two of our boats between the
island and the shore nearest the main land, and the other on the
opposite side, and sent Cullen upon the island to beat for game. It
was scarcely five minutes, before the voices of the dogs broke upon
the stillness of the morning, in a simultaneous and fierce cry, as if
they had started the game suddenly, and fresh from his lair. Away they
went in full cry across the island, the deer sweeping around the upper
end, and returning on the opposite side, as if loth to take to the
water; but true to their instincts, the hounds followed, making the
hills and the old woods ring again with the music of their voices.
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