"That was a wonderful sight," said Jack. "I would not have missed it for anything. I feel as if I should remember that for a very long time."
"Yes," said Mr. Fannin, "I believe you will; it is something worth remembering."
"So it is," said Hugh; "it's one of the finest sights I ever saw. Who would have thought that that eagle could drop as fast as the fish did, that he could direct himself so as to catch his prey, and that, after falling like that, he could stop. There's a whole lot of mighty wonderful things to be seen out here. It beats my time altogether."
"Is there any chance of our getting a shot at anything to-morrow morning, when we go up the North Arm, Mr. Fannin?" asked Jack.
"Of course I can't tell about that," said he, "but I should certainly take my gun along, if I were you. I always take mine whenever I go out. On the islands up there in the inlet there are plenty of deer; and it's possible that you might get a shot at a deer any time, while there's a bare chance that a goat might come down to the valley and you might get a shot at him. Have you shot much with the rifle?"
"Well," said Jack, "I have shot a little. I have killed the prairie game back on the plains, and a few mountain sheep; and I have run buffalo and killed two or three bears."
"Then you've had quite a little experience, and I suppose you're a pretty good shot."
"No," said Jack, "I don't think I am much of a shot, but I am pretty patient about waiting around and trying to get the shot I want."
"Ha!" said Mr. Fannin, "that sounds as if you had learned to hunt with the Indians, or at all events with some good hunter."
"Well," said Jack, "I have hunted some with Indians; but the man who taught me whatever I know about hunting is sitting with us now--and that is Hugh."
"Well," said Hugh, "you took to it mighty natural, son. There are lots of people that have had a heap more experience than you have and can't come near you for a hunter."
"Well," said Fannin, "I crossed the plains from Canada in 1861, and of course I did some hunting on the way; but ever since that time I've lived here in the Province, where there's plenty of rough, thick timber, and where much of the hunting is done at short range. There's a great deal of game here, though not of many sorts,--mostly deer and bear, and, high up in the mountains, goats. Farther inland there are sheep, and still beyond that, elk; and then there are elk on Vancouver Island, but I have never seen any of them.