34 SPORT INDEED 



Silence ? Yes ! Nature seemed to be up to her neck 

 in the depths of the hush. The guide now shoved 

 our canoe on a pine root to anchor it, and then took up 

 his birch-bark horn and gave the three calls of the 

 cow moose. First, the short, tremulous wail; then 

 the more urgent and commanding one, and, lastly, 

 the long resonant, loving, coaxing, imploring appeal, 

 which no bull-moose with any bowels of compassion 

 can resist. To produce this call the guide winds the 

 horn around in continued circles, the motion giving 

 the sound, that trembling, undulating effect which the 

 genuine article always has. 



Immediately after the call we heard a branch break 

 in the woods to the right of us, perhaps a hundred 

 yards away. I took up my field-glass and watched 

 until I saw a couple of bewitching eyes, a pair of ears 

 erect and vigilant, and the peculiarly graceful neck 

 which I knew could belong only to the doe deer. She 

 stood between two cedars and for awhile watched us 

 intently, then stole carefully up the stream to where 

 it turned sharp to the left and where a bank covered 

 with marsh grass made a pretty foreground for the 

 picture. Here she planted herself, rigid, with nostrils 

 dilated, ears standing straight up, eyes fixed on us, 

 and with every other indication that we w^ere the only 

 target that occupied her attention and curiosity. The 

 guide gave the moose calls every few minutes and 

 tbey could be heard miles away, yet there she stood, 



