154 THE MOOSE 



of far greater size than that of Moosewa's leader, 

 and there was that about him which told of in- 

 calculable age. 



Far up the vast ravines the snow fell in cataracts 

 from the heights, piling into the rivers, which rose 

 until the ice could hold the force of water no 

 longer, and broke up in a series of minute cracks 

 and fissures over which the ravens and the roaming 

 moose rats travelled fearlessly. Then for a week 

 it lay quiet, until one morning the forest folk 

 wakened to see what had been for so long a strong 

 hard sheet of blue-green- white floating in blocks of 

 fantastical shapes. 



Rushing in swollen volume, the tossing waters 

 flung the titantic floes high and dry on the icy 

 banks, or swirled them onwards in grinding packs 

 down the flowing road to the sea. 



Not until he was old and experienced in all 

 things did Moosewa master the signs by which 

 the wise ones of the bush knew for a certainty 

 that spring was coming, so insidiously did she 

 creep over the frozen land, so carefully screen her 

 approach. He tried to hear her footsteps as the 

 bears and squirrels did, but always she eluded him 

 and was there before he guessed. 



