THE TRAPPER 157 



ever had. Calmly self-reliant, never over-confident. 

 That was why the young moose admired him more 

 than he did a still bigger beast whom he tacked 

 on to next winter. His enemies so often gave him 

 victory. But the big bull foresaw as no other 

 moose ; there was no element of gambling in his 

 schemes, and they always seemed to come out as 

 he had calculated. He would chance very little, 

 and yet when chances had to be taken he took 

 them boldly and fearlessly. There was no half- 

 hearted element in his nature. Moosewa would 

 ever take a leaf out of his book. 



The young moose stood gazing out over the 

 lake, uninterested in the lilies shooting up through 

 the shallows. Under a soft, protective casing of 

 velvet, busy living cells were manufacturing quite 

 a creditable pair of miniature antlers. His reflec- 

 tion in the water limned a goodly beast, of already 

 immense proportions. His height at the shoulder 

 topped that of the average four-year-old, and 

 though, like all his tribe, be fell away behind, he 

 was built all over on fine muscular lines. 



A tiny humming-bird, who had breasted hundreds 

 of miles and the winds of the North, flickered by 

 on fairy pinions, drenched with rain, and frozen 



