118 THE MOOSE 



whistled overhead, and branches crashed to earth, 

 and lightning lit up the dark corners as with a 

 flare, tried hard to forget the tragedy of the early 

 evening. His companion of many days was gone. 

 Coward the old bull may have been on occasion, 

 but as the vision of his thick shoulders squaring up 

 against the battering onslaughts of an agile foe 

 recalled itself, Moose wa forgot all temperamental 

 shortcomings, and remembered only the best of his 

 dead Mentor. 



A light covering of snow lay upon the forest, a 

 foreboding of winter that cast its spell on many 

 things. 



The great transition was at hand. On the higher 

 grounds the ptarmigan, speckled brown and white 

 now, preparatory to turning white as the snowbird, 

 were forming up into packs, in late autumn habit ; 

 the cock birds crowing in mournful tones the 

 requiem of the short summer, so different to the 

 laughing chuckle with which they sahite the spring. 



Because food was scarce, the bears were holing 

 up early, and the amount of labour bestowed upon 

 their shelters depended as much on how long they 

 would be occupied as upon the methods of the 

 inhabitant-to-be. Bruin of the black coat prepared 



