BEYOND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE 247 



and fifty yards, and I fired twice in rapid succession, drop- 

 ping one and stopping a second, while the third went 

 on, and with Seco and one of the dogs following. The 

 remaining dog was already busily 

 tearing at the throat of the fallen 

 musk-ox. 



The wounded bull continued trav- 

 elling slowly in the direction the 

 third had taken, and was, I saw, bad- 

 ly hit, but I put another ball in front 

 of his hind-quarter and ranging for- 

 ward, to keep him from wandering 

 off farther, and he came to a stand- 

 still, though he did not fall. MOCCASINS 



I had heard a deal about wound- 

 ed musk-oxen being dangerous, and thought this an ex- 

 cellent opportunity of discovering for myself whether the 

 animal is so ferocious as the Indians report him. So I 

 drew nearer, to within probably twenty-five yards, keep- 

 ing, of course, a close watch on his movements and my 

 rifle in readiness in case of attack. 



On my approach the bull faced me. As I began slowly 

 circling about him he kept turning so his head was always 

 presented to me. Having made one circuit with no other 

 demonstration on his part, I concluded he had no inten- 

 tion of charging, and I determined experimenting on the 

 strength of the boss, which protects the entire top of his 

 head. Taking careful sight, I fired. Other than a slight 

 shake of the head the bull gave no evidence of being hit, 

 and I afterwards discovered a small black spot where the 

 bullet had struck on the top of the boss just at the side 

 of the crevice. Then to see if the brain could be reached 

 by penetrating the skull just at the lower edge of the 

 boss, I fired a second time, but though my bullet crashed 



