Moose 



the shoulder of the bear, and hit him low down 

 in the hind quarter a performance which fairly 

 disgusted me, as it was the easiest of shots. I 

 had never used these sights before, and made 

 up my mind there and then never to do so 

 again. 



On arrival at camp I puzzled my brains to 

 think out a plan by which I could use my own 

 trusty rifle. Had I thought of it, I might have 

 known that both hammers were cocked, and 

 would have fired the cartridges, but I did not 

 then think of it, nor did I do so until in the 

 evening it suddenly struck me that I might cock 

 the tumblers again by pressing the cocking-rods 

 against a rock or hard piece of wood. I there- 

 fore pulled both triggers, hitting the strikers 

 against a piece of wood held against them, to 

 avoid injury, and hunting up a rock in the ground, 

 with a steady push, found that with care I could 

 cock the rifle in this way. Next morning, there- 

 fore, I started off with Hunter to search for a 

 moose, on whose carcass I hoped to try the ex- 

 periment of shooting without the fore end. We 

 went towards the mountain, passing through 

 the belt of black alder that marked the timber 

 line. Here, a few hundred yards from the edge 

 of the timber, we sat down. The country was 

 spread out before us like a map, the wooded 

 part in which the camp was situated being in a 

 gentle incline. With my glass I could survey a 



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