Page 223 - A Jacobite Exile

help, and any of us who are within hearing will come to aid you."

With the exception of hares, of which a good many were snared, the
hunting was not productive. Tracks of deer were seen not unfrequently, but

it was extremely difficult, even when the animals were sighted, to get
across the surface of the snow to within range of the clumsy arquebuses
that two or three of the men carried. They did, however, manage to shoot a

few by erecting a shelter, just high enough for one man to lie down under,
and leaving it until the next snowstorm so covered it that it seemed but a

knoll in the ground, or a low shrub bent down and buried under the weight
of the snow. These shelters were erected close to paths taken by the deer,
and, by lying patiently all day in them, the men occasionally managed to

get a close shot.

Several bears were killed, and two elks. These afforded food for a long
time, as the frozen flesh would keep until the return of spring. Holes were
made in the ice on the stream, and baited hooks being set every night, it

was seldom that two or three fish were not found fast on them in the
morning.

Altogether, therefore, there was no lack of food; and as, under the teaching
of the captain, Charlie in time learnt to be able to keep his direction through

the woods, he was often able to go out, either with Stanislas or alone, thus
keeping clear of the close smoky hut during the hours of daylight. Upon the

whole he found the life by no means an unpleasant one.

Among the articles purchased by the captain were high boots, lined with

sheepskin, coming up to the thigh. With these and the coats, which had
hoods to pull over the head, Charlie felt the cold but little during the day;

while at night he found the hut often uncomfortably warm, sleeping, as they
all did, in the same attire in which they went out.

In February the weather became excessively severe, more so, the peasants
and charcoal burners they occasionally met with declared, than they ever

remembered. The wild animals became tamer, and in the morning when
they went out, they frequently found tracks of bears that had been prowling