316 BIG GAME FIELDS 



and walked to within thirty yards of him and 

 took his picture. Suddenly I heard Pat and 

 Mac shout "He come for you!" Sure enough he 

 was running straight for me and I made post 

 haste for the nearest tree. He stopped quite close 

 and stood staring at me. This is the most un- 

 usual performance of a moose that I have ever 

 heard of. I only record this to show that any- 

 thing but the impossible may be expected of a 

 wild animal, and perhaps the next one, even with 

 the most careful stalking, would be impossible to 

 get within range of. As we rode on he still 

 stood staring after us. 



The fourth day we crossed the head of the 

 Iskoot, that flows into the Stikine many miles 

 further south. This crossing the Iskoot may 

 sound very simple, but the river at this point is 

 too deep to ford and its icy waters rush on with 

 an alarming swiftness, so that it took us several 

 hours to build a raft, ferry the packs, swim the 

 horses and repack the outfit. 



At last we reached the Ashcroft trail and as 

 we were to return over this trail we made a cache 

 of 100 pounds of provisions, all the horns, and 

 in fact everything we could possibly do without, 

 so as to reduce the weight of the packs and make 

 better time. 



