THE FOREST KING 181 



taut, horns laid well back, making his bid for 

 safety. The trapper's momentary abstraction had 

 given the pursued a chance, for breaking a fresh 

 trail through deep snow is not the sort of an adven- 

 ture a moose seeks readily. When several yard up 

 together, it is always understood that in trail 

 breaking they relieve each other by turns. 



The man was gaining, there could be no doubt of 

 that. If the moose had a clear run of a few 

 hundred yards, the next fifty caused him to lose 

 the advantage. He could not, try as he would, 

 cast off the figure with the wings of Mercury upon 

 his feet. 



Down a gulch where the wind drove slantingly 

 and bitterly cold, the trapper put up his hand in its 

 fur mitt to his cheek on the windward side. He 

 felt no pain, but the ominous numbness was there, 

 and he had been frost-bitten, or frosted, as they call 

 it in Alaska, before. It frightened him somewhat. 

 It was all very well to think of the common remedy 

 of rubbing the infected part with snow. Too often 

 had he seen the frozen skin give way in the process, 

 and so worsen what was done. 



He pulled up short in his headlong flight as the 

 numbness deepened, and turned regretfully shack- 



