A LOST MOOSE 97 



bruises and inflammations that the rest of the world is 

 heir to. 



A party of gum-pickers were the last occupants, and 

 to keep out the rain and make the place tolerably hab- 

 itable they had patched up a corner of the roof. 

 Under this portion they built a couple of bunks in 

 which they slept at night and sometimes rested during 

 the day when wearied by their toilsome work. A 

 rude table stands in the middle of the floor, and in its 

 decaying wood the gum-pickers had cut their names 

 and told their occupation. The latter was hardly 

 necessary, as the quantity of worthless gum scattered 

 upon the floor should have saved them that trouble. 

 The road that passed by the lumber camp was much 

 traveled by a pair of moose, and runs near a bog 

 where I oftentimes found caribou. Now it struck me 

 that it would be a good idea to spend a night or two 

 in this camp, first fixing up a place on the front part 

 where I could sit at night and watch for passing game. 

 My mind was really bent on getting a shot at the 

 moose whose footprints showed his daily wanderings 

 up and down the road and to the stream, for the pur- 

 pose of feeding along its banks at night. I said to 

 myself " What an easy thing it will be to sit at the 

 opening in the front of the camp, and when these big 

 fellows come along, put out the muzzle of my rifle and 

 bang away." Of course my plan had nothing to do 

 with the cow-moose, only the bull ; and he must be a 



