BIG MOOSE OF LITTLE TOBIQUE 109 



but were too late. The two moose-lovers had de- 

 parted in search of " woods and pastures new." How- 

 ever, they left their tracks behind. One was a young 

 cow-moose ; the other a bull of ordinary size, and we 

 wanted neither of them. Our heart was fixed on big 

 "Weary Willie" and he had not been in their 

 company. 



The following night we changed our position to a 

 clump of cedars that stood on a point jutting out into 

 the lake. During the day I had walked twelve miles 

 to reach an old beaver pond and meadow, said to be a 

 haunt of the caribou, and during my absence the 

 guide had " swamped out " a path from the road to 

 the cedar point above mentioned. This enabled us to 

 reach or retire from it silently — an impossibility by 

 the old way, as it led through a cedar swamp full of 

 dead branches and rotting wood. 



About four o'clock the guide, who was alone, heard 

 a branch crack on the edge of the lake, and turning 

 his eyes in the direction of the sound, got his first 

 glimpse of the big fellow upon whose capture we were 

 so eagerly bent. The man had no rifle with him, 

 nothing but his axe, which he laid noiselessly down 

 and crept back to the camp, where he awaited my re- 

 turn. When I did get back, we started at once for 

 the cedar point, and during our walk, he edified me 

 with a glowing description of the Big Moose-tramp, 

 his marvelous size, his dignified walk, his shape, etc. 



