"The barrens, which cover so large a portion of the interior of Newfoundland, vary somewhat in character in different parts of the island.
"Where Ben and Mike were investigating them, they were covered with wide patches of a sturdy, stunted shrub called, locally, 'skronnick.'
"This skronnick played a most important part in the experiences which presently befell the hunters. It grows about shoulder-high at its highest, and spreads out like a miniature banyan-tree. Its twisted stems are bare to a height of from two to three feet, and its top so densely matted as almost to shut out the light. The shrub is an evergreen, a remote cousin to the juniper, and its stems are wide enough apart for one to freely crawl about between them. When one is caught in a storm on the barrens, the skronnick patches make no mean shelter.
"Scattered thinly amid the skronnick stood bald, white-granite bowlders from two or three to ten or twelve feet high; and here and there lay deep pools,--cup-shaped hollows--filled to the brim with transparent, icy water.
"'Arrah,' said Mike, as they climbed down the ravine to the camp, 'but it's a quare counthry!'
"To Ben, however, all dry land was queer. So he hardly comprehended Mike's remark.
"On the following day before they set out for the hunt a council of war was held. Said Ben,--
"'You see, the critters won't let us git nigh enough to fire at 'em afore they clear out; an' _then_ where are we?'
"'Sure, an' we'll hide in the skronnick,' replied Mike, 'an' shoot thim as they go by.'
"'An' maybe they won't _go_ by just to oblige us,' suggested Ben. 'I reckon we'll hev to git down, so's they can't see us, an' crawl up on 'em!"
"These tactics decided upon, the hunters mounted to the plain, enthusiastic and sanguine. Eagerly they scanned the bleak reaches. Not a caribou was there in sight. Ben's face fell, and he heaved a mighty sigh of disappointment. But Mike was not so easily cast down.
"'Come on,' said he cheerily, 'an' we'll find the bastes 'fore ye know where ye are.'
"With their guns over their shoulders, they picked their way through the skronnick for a couple of hundred yards, till suddenly, out from behind a bowlder, not twenty paces in front of them, stepped a huge bull caribou.