And when I tied a bright
tomato can to a string and set it whirling round my head, or set my
handkerchief for a flag on the end of my trout rod, then he could not
stand it another minute, but came running down to the shore, to stamp,
and fidget, and stare nervously, and scare himself with twenty alarms
while trying to make up his mind to swim out and satisfy his burning
desire to know all about it. But I am forgetting the caribou schools.
Wherever there are barrens--treeless plains in the midst of dense
forest--the caribou collect in small herds as winter comes on,
following the old gregarious instinct. Then each one cannot do as he
pleases any more; and it is for this winter and spring life together,
when laws must be known, and the rights of the individual be laid
aside for the good of the herd, that the young are trained.
One afternoon in late summer I was drifting down the Toledi River,
casting for trout, when a movement in the bushes ahead caught my
attention. A great swampy tract of ground, covered with grass and low
brush, spread out on either side the stream.
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