2 ;o THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



point where the wind was right I started toward him. 

 The moose, feeding in some willows near a clump of 

 spruce trees, was soon out of sight, and I went rapidly 

 toward the spot, until within five hundred yards, when 

 he suddenly appeared in an opening, and I dropped low. 

 He again passed out of sight, and I advanced. Finally, 

 I saw him through the spruces a hundred and fifty yards 

 away, but the trees were too densely clustered to try a 

 shot. Again he disappeared, and going to the left, step 

 by step, I approached until soon I could see all of the 

 clear area where he had last been feeding, but he was 

 not in sight and I knew he was lying dqwn. 



Advancing fifty yards, I saw the tips of his horns. He 

 was lying facing me, near a clump of willows. Lying on 

 my stomach I crawled along and with rifle at my shoul- 

 der, suddenly rose and fired full into his chest. He stif- 

 fened out, trembling, and I walked toward him, but to 

 my surprise he suddenly struggled to his feet and trot- 

 ted fifty yards ahead before he fell dead. After taking 

 the scalp and cutting off the head, I cut out fifteen pounds 

 of fat and opened his stomach. It contained only willow 

 leaves. His horns were shapely and had a spread of 

 forty-eight inches; the velvet was entirely off one, and 

 some was hanging in strips on the other, where one point 

 was still soft. He had a fine bell sixteen inches long. 

 Shouldering all, I struggled back to camp. Jefferies 

 shouted with enthusiasm when he saw the fat, for the 

 meat of the calf was lean and we both craved fat. We 

 then sat before a fire of balsam wood which burns beau- 

 tifully, without sparking. 



