FLY-FISHING ON THE OSTRA DAL RIVER, SWEDEN, 47 



attitude, and being, also, partly obscured by the trees 

 intervening. It occupies itself in tearing down and 

 devouring the young branches of the birch. The 

 men are getting impatient, and talking in quite an 

 audible tone to each other, but as we have no gun, 

 and may not shoot if we had, this is of no conse- 

 quence. Yet the huge animal has evidently heard 

 nothing. Meantime the mosquitoes have become 

 such an intolerable pest that it is necessary to keep 

 rubbing one's hands and face, which are being veno- 

 mously punctured as though with the pricks of 

 minute and numberless needles tipped with poison. 

 Their trumpeting in the vicinity of one's ears makes 

 it impossible at last to hear the movements and noises 

 made by the elk. "We know that these must be con- 

 siderable, for occasionally one hears a crack at the 

 breaking of some large branch, making a louder sound 

 than the humming of the myriads of the mygg. 



It now occurs to us that this may be the reason 

 which is also preventing the elk from hearing our 

 movements, though he could plainly see us if he 

 turned his head. 



This suspicion becomes so much like certainty that 

 we can fancy we discern the cloud of mosquitoes 

 which must be hovering about his large ears, so near 

 is the animal to us now, not more than seven yards 

 away. Suddenly more crashings are heard behind, 

 the first elk looks round, and now we see another 

 following with rather finer horns. The breeze shifts 

 a point. In a moment more we must be discovered 



