THE MOOSE, 



237 



against the frozen twigs, drowned the little 

 noise made by my moccasined feet. 



I strode out on the bank at the lower end 

 of a long narrow pool of water, dark and half 

 frozen. In this pool, half way down and fac- 

 ing me, but a score of yards off, stood the 

 mighty marsh beast, strange and uncouth in 

 look as some monster surviving over from the 

 Pliocene. His vast bulk loomed black and 

 vague in the dim gray dawn ; his huge antlers 

 stood out sharply ; columns of steam rose 

 from his nostrils. For several seconds he 

 fronted me motionless; then he began to turn, 

 slowly, and as if he had a stiff neck. When 

 quarter way round I fired into his shoulder ; 

 whereat he reared and bounded on the bank 

 with great leap, vanishing in the willows. 

 Through these 1 heard him crash like a whirl- 

 wind for a dozen rods ; then down he fell, and 

 when I reached the spot he had ceased to strug- 

 gle. The ball had gone through his heart. 



When a moose is thus surprised at close 

 quarters, it will often stand at gaze for a 

 moment or two, and then turn stiffly around 

 until headed in the right direction; once thus 

 headed aright it starts off with extraordinary 

 speed. 



The flesh of the moose is very good ; though 

 some deem it coarse. Old hunters, who always 

 like rich, greasy food, rank a moose's nose 

 with a beaver's tail, as the cliief of backwood 

 delicacies; personally I never liked either. 

 The hide of the moose, like the hide of the 

 elk, is of very poor quality, much inferior to 

 ordinary buckskin ; caribou hide is the best 



