258 HUNTING CAMPS. 



in two days and a half over an execrable road, but its 

 difficulties brought us the consoling assurance that 

 travellers upon it must be few and far between. On 

 the second day the leading horse, a powerful grey, fell 

 through one of the many rough timber bridges which 

 occurred at intervals along our route, but by a miracle 

 it escaped unhurt. 



Shortly after this misadventure the whole party was 

 arrested by the calling of a cow-moose within a mile of 

 the road. We halted, and everyone listened while the 

 strange bellowing cry was repeated at the least a dozen 

 times, and was then, to our great satisfaction, answered 

 by a bull. As it was yet early in September, and the 

 rut had consequently only just commenced, the chances 

 were in favour of the bull being a large one. 



Ross and Howard generously insisted that I must 

 try my luck ; so, accompanied by Ed, I went off in the 

 direction of the sound. Almost immediately on leaving 

 the road we found ourselves entangled in a long strip of 

 alders, but beyond this the forest appeared to thin. 

 We pushed our way through the alders and, wading a 

 small brook, took a line at right angles to the road, 

 when we again heard the cow calling and the bull 

 answering, but by this time they had moved into some 

 very thick timber. Here, the wind being in our favour, 

 we soon got within a hundred yards of the bull, which 

 continued trampling and grunting. But the growth of 

 the forest was so dense that it was impossible to see 

 more than a few yards in any direction, so we were 

 unable to locate the cow. Had the wind been steady, 

 or had the bull been alone, we could in all probability 

 have approached near enough to see him, but after 

 advancing for another fifty yards we were forced to 



