216 THE COLUMBIAN OR COAST DEER

By the time the knoll was reached the downpour had
developed into a veritable deluge of so cold a rain that
it was not far from turning into snow. My scanty attire
had been soaked long ere this, and a few minutes’ rest
was enough to set me shivering. Thoughts of camp and
a roaring fire and a hot breakfast were uppermost in my
mind. There are times when even a very rough-and-
ready camp seems very homelike and a good place to
be. But such things were not in store for me for some
hours to come. The hoped-for glimpse of the inlet was
not forthcoming, but there was another knoll ahead of
me; surely from that one a better view could be obtained,
Still, from it there was no better view, so I tried another,
and yet another, until at last the visibility decreased so
rapidly that it was useless to try any more. Then my
plan was to return to the buck, cut off a hindquarter and
hurry back to camp.

It was then that my lack of proper knowledge and
anxiety to get out of the woods caused me to make another
grievous mistake. Instead of carefully retracing my
steps back to the deer, I tried to find an easier and shorter
way. Then, after failing to find the spot where he was
lying immediately, instead of taking my time and making
a careful search, I began to hurry, first in one direction,
then another, until I got absolutely muddled up and out
of temper. Finally, when a thick mist enveloped every
little hill and knoll within a hundred yards, I gave it up
and made a bee-line for where I guessed my camp was.

That day is not one that I look back to with great
pleasure. I ran and walked, and walked and ran, uphill
and downhill, across deep gulches, through dense thickets
of young firs and masses of tangled brush, with a constant
stream of water running down my back. I was by no
means panic-stricken, or even ‘‘rattled’?; it never
occurred to me that I should not find my way out in a
short time; in fact, every minute I anticipated getting a
view of the inlet; but I was extremely hungry and utterly
disgusted with getting caught out in such a rain, to say
nothing of going back without my buck. Once or twice