Looking in that direction, they saw a line of dark objects, that had
just topped a distant ridge, running swiftly towards them.
"Caribou!" shouted White, in great excitement, at the same time seizing
his rifle from the sledge and hastily removing it from its sealskin
case. In another minute sledge and dogs were concealed in a bit of a
gully, with Cabot to watch them, while Yim and White, lying flat behind
the crest of a low ridge, were eagerly noting the course of the
approaching animals. When it became evident that they would pass at
some distance on the right, White, crouching low, ran in that direction.
The caribou appeared badly frightened, pausing every few moments to
face about and cast terrified glances over the way they had come. All
at once, during one of these pauses, a shot rang out, followed quickly
by another, and, as the terrified animals dashed madly away in a new
direction, one of their number dropped behind, staggered, and fell.
"I've got him! I've got him!" yelled White, wild with the joy of his
achievement.
"Hurrah for us!" shouted Cabot. "Steaks and spare-ribs for supper
to-night."
"Yip, yip, yip!" screamed Yim to his dogs, and with a jubilant chorus
of yells and yelpings, the entire outfit streamed over the ridge to the
place where the unfortunate caribou lay motionless.
In his broken English Yim gave the lads to understand that it would be
advisable to camp where they were, in order to prepare their meat for
transportation, and also to mend their broken sledge shoe.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190