"Unfortunately, the gentlemen of the company were too busy to go along with me; so also were the numerous _engages_; and I set out, taking only my servant, a _bois brule_, or half-breed, who happened, however, to be a good guide for such an expedition, as well as a first-rate hunter. "Setting out, we kept down the stream for some distance, walking along its bank. We saw numerous deer-tracks in the mud, where the animals had gone to and from the water. These tracks were almost fresh, and many of them, as my servant averred, must have been made the previous night by the animals coming to drink--a common habit with them, especially in hot weather. "But, strange to say, we walked a mile or more without getting a glimpse of a single deer, or any other sort of animal. I was becoming discouraged, when my man proposed that we should leave the stream, and proceed back among the hills. The deer, he believed, would be found there. "This was resolved upon; and we accordingly struck out for the high ground. We soon climbed up from the river bottom, and threaded our way amidst the fragrant shrubbery of amelanchiers and wild-roses, cautiously scrutinising every new vista that opened before us. "We had not gone far before we caught sight of several deer; we could also hear them at intervals, behind the copses that surrounded us, the males uttering a strange whistling sound, similar to that produced by blowing into the barrel of a gun, while this was occasionally replied to by the goat-like bleat of the females. "Strange to say, however, they were all very shy, and notwithstanding much cautious crouching and creeping among the bushes, we wandered about for nearly two-thirds of the day without getting a shot at any of them. "What had made them so wary we could not at the time, tell, but we afterwards learned that a large party of Flathead Indians had gone over the ground only a few days before, and had put the deer through a three days chase, from which they had not yet recovered. Indeed, we saw Indian `sign' all along the route, and at one place came upon the head and horns of a fine buck, which, from some fancy or other of the hunter, had been left suspended from the branch of a tree, and had thus escaped being stripped by the wolves. "At sight of this trophy, my companion appeared to be in ecstasies. I could not understand what there was in a worthless set of antlers to produce such joyful emotions; but as Blue Dick--such was the _soubriquet_ of my servant--was not much given to idle exhibitions of feeling, I knew there must be something in it. "`Now, master,' said he, addressing me, `if I had something else, I could promise you a shot at the long-tails, shy as they are.' "`Something else! What do you want?' I inquired. "`Something that ought to grow about yar, else I'm mightily mistaken in the sign. Let me try down yonder,'--and Dick pointed to a piece of low swampy ground that lay to one side of our course.