MOOSE-HUNTING IN CANADA 135 



in the most contented frame of mind that a man 

 can ever hope to enjoy in this uneasy and trouble- 

 some world. I had suffered from cold and from 

 hunger — I was now warm and well fed. I was tired 

 after a hard day's work and long night's vigil, and 

 was thoroughly capable of enjoying that greatest of 

 all luxuries — sweet repose after severe exercise. The 

 day was so warm that the shade of the trees fell 

 cool and grateful, and I lay flat on my back, smok- 

 ing my pipe, and gazing up through the branches 

 into a perfectly clear, blue sky, with occasionally a 

 little white cloud like a bit of swansdown floating 

 across it, and felt, as I had often felt before, that 

 no luxury of civilisation can at all compare with the 

 comfort a man can obtain in the wilderness. I lay 

 smoking till I dropped off to sleep, and slept soundly 

 until the men coming up from camp awoke me. 



Such is a pretty fair sample of a good day's 

 sport. It was not a very exciting day, and I have 

 alluded to it chiefly because the incidents are 

 fresh in my mind. The great interest of moose- 

 calling comes in when a bull answers early in the 

 evening, and will not come up boldly, and you 

 and the bull spend the whole night trying to 

 outwit each other. Sometimes, just when you 

 think you have succeeded in deceiving him, a 



