72 SPORT INDEED 



went as if he hadn't been touched. A second ball 

 pierced his heart and yet he traveled over sixty yards 

 before he fell. 



Yes, they are the most uncertain animal to hunt 

 and kill that can be found, and it is partly on account 

 of this uncertainty that the hunting of them is so ex- 

 citing and captivating. The unexpected is always 

 happening in moose territory, and therefore your ex- 

 pectancy is constantly kept on a wire edge. You 

 look at their tracks — which, maybe, are very fresh, 

 or, perhaps, very old — and say to yourself, " What if 

 he would show himself behind that bend in the road, 

 or on that bit of open bog, or in that bunch of alders, 

 or standing in among those lily-pads?" Then you 

 think how many hours it was since he passed, and 

 debate in your mind whether it was in the night or 

 early in the morning. You are not sure of anything 

 that relates to him. The water where he planted his 

 big feet as he walked in this muddy spot is roily, but 

 it doesn't follow that the fellow did not make the 

 tracks last night, instead of this morning, as some 

 water takes longer to settle and clear than other. 

 You cannot be exactly certain of the hour that he 

 passed, even by his tracks. I am speaking now of 

 really "fresh" tracks and signs, so called, which 

 keep the hunter continually keyed up to the 

 sharpest pitch of nervous tension, that is, if he 

 is really hunting in earnest, and not killing time 



