"Well, we lived together that summer. But I am getting ahead of my story.
Shortly before they arrived, I noticed some strange-looking caribou in
the clearing. I had no ammunition, so could not shoot them. Anyway, they
were skin-poor and would be of little use to me. But they seemed
strangely tame, coming close to my cabin at night. They were company, and
I was careful not to frighten them away. One night, in the moonlight, I
caught a glistening flash from the ear of the oldest doe. Then, too, I
noticed that one of them had unnaturally short antlers. A closer look
told me that these antlers had been cut off.

"Then came the wonderful discovery: these were not caribou, but reindeer
escaped from some herd in Alaska.

"Right then I decided to capture and use them. I would put them in
pound until their rightful owners came for them, which would be
never." He smiled.

"Well, I tried making a lasso of caribou skin. For a long time I could
not come near enough to reach them with the lasso. But one night, while
they rested, I crept up to them and my lasso caught one by the antlers.
Then there was a battle, and all the while I was thinking that now I
should have milk, butter and cheese, meat and clothing. And then there
was a snap; the skin-rope broke and away went the reindeer--and my hopes.

"I then hit on the plan of building a corral and driving them into it.
This was a pretty big job for one man, but with trees lining both sides
of a narrow run, where the deer went to drink, I managed to weave willow
branches into the spruce trees and make a stout barrier. Well--one
morning, I found myself with six reindeer in pound--a bull, three does, a