232 THE MOOSE 



They were on their long legs instantly, and before 

 they had time to wheel off at a gallop the cow 

 dropped to an ill-placed bullet, which got her in 

 the knee-joint. 



Her plight scourged Moosewa to strength. He 

 was sensible of nothing save that the cow was 

 grievously hurt, and lashing round and round in 

 the scrub-bushes with her leg broken. It seemed 

 to the big bull that he had courage enough to face 

 the fire-stick itself and trample it into the earth. 



He wheeled round, looking the mammoth he was. 



Standing waist-deep in the grass the prospector 

 brought up his rifle, and it cracked like ice splitting 

 on a frozen lake. The bullet just missed the bull 

 by a hair's breadth, and showed him the imminent 

 danger in which he stood. 



His courage evaporated. He would like to 

 charge the destroyer, batter him to pieces, cleave 

 him from forehead to chin with a razor hoof. But 

 — the fire-stick I It was all-powerful. Who could 

 stand against it ? 



His dash and power ebbed as the human smell 

 tainted all the air. A curious nerve-destroying 

 aroma, crueller than the skunk at his worst. It 

 drove the moose into a wild stampede, which put 



