316 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



my own or sometliin' else's. You often git that feelin' 

 when yer fresh to huntin' and hear big game comin'. 

 Pretty soon I knew the breathin' belonged to both of 

 us, me and the otlier feller, who Avas the biggest Moose 

 I'd ever seen, comin' dashin' along over old logs, snortin' 

 and blowin' like a sawmill engine. I up with my gun 

 and shot for behind the shoulder, but he didn't stop, 

 and came straight on, and I thought sure I hadn't 

 teched him and my aim had gone over 'cause he was 

 comin' so fast. I couldn't fire again ; he was too close, 

 and makin' fer me furius. I looked to git behind a 

 tree, but jest then he fell over not twenty yards from 

 where I wuz. 



" I come out, when I saw he was dead for sure, and 

 took a look. He was shot through the heart, and as 

 fine a moose as anybody could want. I didn't know then 

 how tough his meat'd be, or about measurin' horns and 

 countin' spikes in those times, but j^ou can measure 

 that pair now, over to my camp, and though they're old 

 and shabby, they'll tell you five foot eight and thirty- 

 five points. Tlien I saw there was blood on the front 

 of his horns, that couldn't have come from himself, and 

 I began to wonder what had become er Dom'nick. I 

 couldn't lift or skin the Moose myself, so, kind er set 

 up by my kill, I foUowed Dom'nick's trail. 



" I must have kept on four or five miles, Avhen the 

 woods sagged down to swamp}^ thick-covered ground 

 again. The Moose trail was clear enough, but Dom'nick 

 walked to head him off, not in the trail. Then I come 

 to a place that puzzled me ; the snow was melted by a 

 warm spring, and I had to pick up the trail again on the 

 other side. While I was thinkin', I heard another great 



