348 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



Half an hour after starting, as we rounded a 

 point, we saw the huge black body and white 

 shovel antlers of a bull moose. He was close 

 to the alders, wading in the shallow water and 

 deep mud and grazing on a patch of fairly tall 

 water-grass. So absorbed was he that he did 

 not notice us until Arthur had skilfully brought 

 the canoe to within eighty yards of him. Then 

 he saw us, tossed his great antlered head aloft, 

 and for a moment stared at us, a picture of 

 burly majesty. He stood broadside on, and a 

 splendid creature he was, of towering stature, 

 the lord of all the deer tribe, as stately a beast 

 of the chase as walks the round world. 



The waves were high, and the canoe danced 

 so on the ripple that my first bullet went 

 wild, but with the second I slew the mighty 

 bull. 



We had our work cut out to get the bull out 

 of the mud and on the edge of the dry land. 

 The antlers spread fifty-two inches. Some 

 hours were spent in fixing the head, taking off 

 the hide, and cutting up the carcass. Our 

 canoe was loaded to its full capacity with 

 moose meat when we started toward the be- 

 ginning of the portage leading from the south- 

 eastern corner of the lake toward the Lamberts' 

 camp. Here we landed the meat, putting cool 



