CALLING UP A MOOSE. 229 



bull, which kept on grunting loudly, and was 

 evidently coming straight towards us. 



After a little while it left off grunting, and 

 we all crouched down amongst the willow scrub, 

 watching and listening. Louis then gave a low 

 call close down on the ground, but there was no 

 answering grunt. Suddenly, however, although 

 we had never heard a sound denoting that a 

 large animal was forcing its way through the 

 thick willow scrub, something white and ghostly 

 appeared above the bushes. Nearer and nearer, 

 but without the faintest sound, this whitish 

 object seemed to float towards us, looking 

 like a gigantic moth, till it rose clear of 

 the bushes, apparently within twenty yards 

 of us. Then the great dark form of a large 

 animal, that we knew was a big bull moose, 

 loomed up in front of us, its head sur- 

 mounted by a mighty pair of wide-spreading 

 antlers, wliich looked quite white in the dusk 

 of the evening. 



There was still a little light in the sky behind 

 us, and Mr. Sheldon afterwards told me that he 

 could see the sights of his rifle quite plainly. 



