They saw us and turned, and I had scarcely caught my breath after
the surprise when they were many more than twenty feet away, and
there was barely time to snap my shutter on them before they,
disappeared over the brow of the hill.
The country was literally alive with the beautiful creatures, and
they did not seem to be much frightened. The apparently wanted
only to keep what seemed to them a safe distance between us, and
would stop to watch us curiously within easy rifle shot. Yet I am
glad I can record that not a shot was fired at them. Gilbert was
wild, for he had in him the hunter's instinct in fullest measure.
The trigger of Job's rifle clicked longingly, but they never forgot
that starvation broods over Labrador, and that the animal they
longed to shoot might some time save the life of one in just such
extremity as that reached by Mr. Hubbard and his party two years
before.
The enjoyment of the men showed itself in the kindling eyes and
faces luminous with pleasure. All his long wilderness experience
had never afforded Job anything to compare with that which this day
had brought him. He was like a boy in his abandon of delight, and
I am sure that if the caribou had worn tails we should have seen
Job running over the hills holding fast to one of them.
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