FOREST SPORTS. 235 



dering stride beneath the ponderous bulk, and comparatively 

 small anil slender foot of the great Deer. 



Yet even at this disadvantage, so immense is the powder, and 

 so unw3aried the vigor and speed of this noble animal, that, 

 eve;i when it breaks through the crust fetlock-deep, it will often 

 require a chase of three successive days, at the best pace of a 

 strong and active runner — and no one vv^ho is not strong and 

 active can attempt this glorious sport — before the Moose is worn 

 down so completely that its pursuer can run into view of it, and 

 bring it down with a single ball, or even with a fowlingpiece 

 and buck-shot. 



During the chase the excitement is intense, for a good wood- 

 man, or an Indian, can tell with great certainty, by the appear- 

 ance of the track, the comparative hardness or softness of the 

 snow at the bottom of the prints, the dung which is dropped 

 during the flight, and other signs, how far ahead the animal may 

 be at any period, and, consequently, how fast you are gaining 

 on him. The Moose lays up at night, and when it has become 

 so dark that you can follow the trail no longer, you also build 

 your fire for the night, and your followers having brought up 

 the toboggins with the meat and "provant" — which they do the 

 more readily, that with the Indian instinct they can almost inva- 

 riably foresee the course of the hunted herd, and cut off the 

 angles, or run the chords of the circles described by the hard- 

 pressed quarry — you pass the night encamped as before, and 

 arise again refreshed, and like a giant again to run your course. 



Then as the hunt waxes hot, the intense eagerness and ex- 

 citement of pursuit still increases, nor does it lack the aliment 

 whereon to exist, for as the herds in general follow the same 

 line of flight, anlall are not equally endowed with speed, pluck, 

 and endurance, the youngsr, the weaker, and the unduly fat of 

 the party, break down the first, and lagging in the rear — for in 

 such a chase it is, iniesd, the devil take the hindmost — are over- 

 taken, and shot down by the foremost and fleetest runner, who, 

 after finishing his victim with a thrust or two of his keen knife, 

 and heralding his triumph to the followers by the proud " who- 



