The Moose 267 



own life; and it is not an uncommon thing for 

 chased moose, when closely approached by their 

 pursuers, even when the latter carry guns and are 

 expert snowshoers, to charge them with such fe- 

 rocity as to put them in much peril. A brother of 

 one of my cow-hands, a man from Maine, was once 

 nearly killed by a cow moose. She had been in a 

 yard with her last year's calf when started. After 

 two or three hours' chase he overtook them. They 

 were traveling in single file, the cow breaking her 

 path through the snow, while the calf followed close 

 behind, and in his nervousness sometimes literally 

 ran up on her. The man trotted close alongside; 

 but, before he could fire, the old cow spun round and 

 charged him, her mane bristling and her green eyes 

 snapping with rage. It happened that just there the 

 snow became shallow, and the moose gained so rap- 

 idly that the man, to save his life, sprang up a tree. 

 As he did so the cow reared and struck at him, one 

 forefoot catching in his snowshoe and tearing it 

 clear off, giving his ankle a bad wrench. After 

 watching him a minute or two she turned and con- 

 tinued her flight; whereupon he climbed down the 

 tree, patched up his torn snowshoe and limped after 

 the moose, which he finally killed. 



An old hunter named Purvis told me of an adven- 

 ture of the kind, which terminated fatally. He was 

 hunting near the Cceur d'Alene Mountains with a 

 mining prospector named Pingree ; both were origi- 



