AN UNEQUAL CONTEST. 61 



far back to be immediately fatal. From the wound 

 a stream of blood still poured. 



Not wishing to come to close quarters with so for- 

 midable an antagonist, Pierre halted at some twenty 

 yards from his victim. He raised his rifle in a leisurely 

 way, and took aim. He would have staked his life on 

 the shot, so certain did he feel that the next moment 

 would declare him the victor. He directed his bullet 

 at the junction of the throat with the chest, hoping to 

 pierce the heart or lungs. 



As the smoke floated aside he fully expected to see 

 the moose struggling in its death agonies on the ground. 

 But, stung to madness with the pain of its wounds, the 

 huge animal summoned all its remaining strength, and 

 before the hunter could spring -aside it had cleared the 

 distance that intervened between them. 



Pierre attempted to insert another cartridge, and 

 found to his horror that he had allowed the magazine 

 to become empty. The shot he had just fired was the 

 last in his rifle. Before he could extract a fresh car- 

 tridge from his pouch, the moose with frantic energy 

 sprang at him. In vain Pierre attempted to defend 

 himself with his rifle. A toss from the ponderous 

 antlers sent it flying to the distance of several yards ; 

 and defenceless and alone the hunter had to face the 

 unequal contest. 



Fortunately the crippled condition of the moose pre- 

 vented it from at once ending the strife by trampling 

 Pierre to death. But such was its activity, despite its 



