THE BEGUILING OF THE MOOSE BULL 123 



standing that the effort is seen to be extremely trying to the vocal 

 powers, judged by the ceaseless contortions of the hard-bitten 

 gaunt features of the redskin. He tells the white man to put 

 out his pipe instantly, to break not the least twig, and to look 

 to him for directions, for he will give signs by the hand. With a 

 startling suddenness the series of low bellowings abruptly termin- 

 ates in a wild choking sob, which goes pealing and echoing through 

 the still aisles of the forest. 



Then begins the first scene of a drama beneath the bright mid- 

 night sky : the skill of man pitted against the sagacity and keen 

 senses of the wariest big game that is hunted anywhere in the 

 world. 



Twice or thrice the moose gives answer at regular intervals of 

 about two minutes' duration. Some wonderful instinct enables 

 this deer to come from a distance of two miles or upwards directly 

 to the spot whence a call has once emanated, even without repeti- 

 tion of the sound. He will come on in a straight line ; maybe, he 

 will make long and frequent pauses at intervals in his advance. 

 Hence the sport of moose-calling can tax the patience of the hunter 

 severely. Neither is it exactly an amusement for people with nerves ; 

 for there is something uncanny about the whole business. In the 

 first place the moose itself is a queer antediluvian type of animal : 

 a seeming strayling that has travelled into the grim forests of North 

 America in this twentieth century from an unknown prehistoric 

 period. 



Vastly uncertain in behaviour is the moose bull, often displaying 

 a reckless indifference to danger, born perhaps of a consciousness 

 of his vast strength. Most deer are gentle and timid in character. 

 Their large round mild eyes appeal to the pity of the hunter even 

 when he is compelled to slay that he may eat. The moose on the 

 other hand wears an almost ferocious aspect, while his small sunken 

 eyes seem to twinkle with a treacherous and truculent gleam. 

 They fairly flash forth a green blaze at such times as he gives way 

 to one of those sudden fits of fury which so frequently take posses- 

 sion of him, and make him on occasion a dangerous enough quarry 

 from whom one had better stand clear at close quarters, else see 

 to it that his powder is not ' crooked '. There are times when his 

 short stiff mane stands erect, while he strikes madly with his huge 

 shovel-like antlers at the stems of trees, raining down showers of 

 debris on his broad brown back. 



It is a custom of the moose when advancing, as he supposes 

 to meet his mate, to make his progress impressive by various exhibi- 

 tions of prowess. Should he meet a rival on the way, as sometimes 



- '11 1 



