THE MOOSE. 253 



On one of my moose-hunting excursions I accompanied 

 a rancher, who seemed to devote as much attention to the 

 chuso us to funning, and an Indian who did odd jobs about 

 his place. This trusty retainer had the usual antipathy of 

 his race to continuous labor; so I have a suspicion that he 

 was kept more for his fondness of the chase than for any 

 other reason. He was also an excellent shot, a close ob- 

 server of the haunts and habits of animals, and could skin 

 them as rapidly and cleanly as the most expert butcher, 

 while he was deemed unrivalled as a curer of their hides 

 and as a maker of beaded moccasins. 



Reaching a position in the dense forest where " signs " 

 were numerous, we selected the shade of a large fir-tree as 

 a site for a primitive camp, built a fire there, and, after sup- 

 per, devoted ourselves to puffing tobacco-smoke until the 

 moon began to creep from under a mass of clouds. This 

 was the signal for us to commence operations, so we load- 

 ed our rifles, and, the Indian taking a light axe and a hunt- 

 ing-knife with him, we marched about a mile from camp. 

 We could hear at intervals, as we advanced, the short, gut- 

 tural sounds of the bulls, and the wild, prolonged roar or 

 call of the cows. When we reached a good position, where 

 the undergrowth was heavy and the space in front open, 

 the hunter and myself sought shelter in the shrubbery 

 close together, while the Indian climbed a tree; and, as 

 soon as he was comfortably seated on a branch, he com- 

 menced calling with such exactitude that I could only tell 

 his cry from that of a cow by its proximity. After wait- 

 ing patiently for half an hour, we heard his summons an- 

 swered by deep grumblings from two directions close by; 

 and, on hearing these, he lowered his call, making it deep 

 and subdued, as if the female were in a most loving frame 

 of mind; and this was repeated three or four times in dif- 

 ferent keys, being now loud, fierce, and emphatic, anon 

 sinking into a low, long-drawn grunt. A few minutes 

 later, and two splendid bulls came crashing through the 

 forest from opposite directions, about two hundred yards 

 away. Both reached the open space at nearly the same 



