THE FOREST KING 165 



young moose became infatuated with a tottering 

 old cow with scarce teeth enough to chew the cud, 

 much less bite off spruce-tops with ease. It was 

 her fifteenth season, and our hero ought to have 

 been moose of the world enough to know that 

 fifteen years, including all the summers and winters, 

 leave a mark. He ought to have known, but did 

 not, or, if he did, it mattered nothing to him. 



The cow was resolved to annex him, and follow- 

 ing a sort of wearing-down system, which is often 

 tried with just as marked an effect by feminine 

 things elsewhere, caught him out. He never 

 thought he needed her until she told him so, never 

 heeded her presence in the least until he found her 

 blocking every trail. 



That he had not to fight for her, that no other 

 moose wanted her, that she was his for the mere 

 taking, never struck the young bull as an3rthing 

 ominous, which shows you how completely un- 

 sophisticated and amateurish he was. And the 

 curious part of it all lay in the fact that, though 

 the cow was as plain as plain as possible, and as 

 unintelligent as a beast who had managed to exist 

 for fifteen years could be, she seemed to Moosewa 

 the most desirable of created mates. Indeed, 



