242 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



did not mind the disagreeable part of it if they could 

 only get a shot at a large bull moose. The " woof, 

 woof" came closer, and at last they could hear the 

 animal threshing around in the bushes about a hun- 

 dred yards away. At last he appeared at the edge of 

 a thicket about a hundred yards away from the hunt- 

 ers. He was threshing the bushes in an extraordi- 

 nary fashion and all the while keeping up his grunting 

 noise. As he circled around he could be seen as he 

 passed from one clump of bushes to another. Finally 

 he came out into the opening and trotted about forty 

 yards forwards towards Dyche and Brown. Here he 

 stopped stone-still, with his head erect and his great 

 black body looming up like that of an elephant. 

 Dyche whispered that it was time to shoot, but 

 Brown objected, saying that the moose would come 

 closer. But his prediction was erroneous, for the 

 bull suddenly wheeled about and dashed into the 

 bushes, where he resumed his grunting and thresh- 

 ing. For over an hour he continued tramping 

 around within a hundred and fifty yards of the 

 hunters, until at last Dyche grew so cold that he 

 could not have hit a moose ten yards away. No 

 noise had been heard for ten or fifteen minutes, and 

 the naturalist said he was going back to camp. 

 Brown gave another muffled call, and as no answer 

 came they started for the tent. Just as they were 

 well under way the moose gave another grunt and 

 began beating the bushes with his horns again. The 

 hunters crouched down and waited for another half- 

 hour, when Dyche made a break for the camp, de- 

 claring that there were not enough moose in the 



