THE FOREST KING 175 



deer feared nothing. In the immensity of the 

 space and remoteness it seemed impossible that any- 

 human agency could exist. 



They were lying down, tails to windward, huddled 

 together for warmth, when a strange tainted air 

 swept down, and brought the leader to his stiltlike 

 legs. His alarm roused the band, and realizing 

 that some unknown danger threatened, the moose 

 moved off briskly, fast as they could, over a difficult 

 surface. 



A flying figure skimmed lightly over the snow, 

 and at the crack of a rifle the smallest calf, lagging 

 behind, hurried out of a frozen world. A lucky 

 kill, but to a hungry trapper, who has also baits to 

 supply, a moose calf means very little. 



It was Moosewa the trapper wanted — Moosewa, 

 the size of whose hoof-marks straightway decided 

 the hunter on following them up, and supported 

 the hurriedly formed idea that here was a bull who 

 must carry a head worth the taking. Even if the 

 antlers so quickly scanned deceived so practised 

 a judge, his skin was " a keeper's fee," and his 

 carcass would mean a sufficiency of beef for the 

 winter. 



He stalked the band day after day, creeping near 



