DAYS IN THE WOODS 291 



melancholy quavering scream on the lake, taken 



up by two or three other loons. " Something 



frightens the loons," whispers Noel to me. 



" Mebbe moose coming. I will try another call ; " 



and again the cry of the moose rolled across the 



barren, and echoed back from the opposite wood. 



" Hark ! " says Noel, " what's that ? I hear him 



right across the wood there," and in truth we 



could just make out the faint call of a bull moose 



miles away. The sound got rapidly nearer, he 



was coming up quickly, when we heard a second 



moose advancing to meet him. They answered 



each other for a little while, and then they ceased 



speaking, and the forest relapsed into silence, so 



death-like that it was hard to believe that it ever 



had been or could be broken by any living thing. 



Nothing more was heard for a long time ; not a 



sound vibrated through the frosty stillness of the 



air, till suddenly it was rudely broken by a crash 



like a dead tree falling in the forest, followed 



by a tremendous racket — sticks cracking, hoofs 



pawing the ground, horns thrashing against 



bushes. 



There the moose fought at intervals for about 



two hours, when the noise ceased as suddenly as 



it began, and after a pause we heard one bull 



T 2 



