THE GIANT MOOSE 239 



days. Three points were broken off, and the blades were 

 folded so that the spread was comparatively narrow. To 

 say the best about it, the growth was fairly heavy. I 

 will not describe how bitter was my disappointment; 

 but I swallowed it as best I could and spent the rage in 

 skinning out the head. 



We measured the game first. He stood 6 feet, 7 inches 

 at the shoulders; the antlers were 53 inches in spread, 

 the blades 33 inches long, and 15 inches wide. 



As if to put the final touch of irony upon this mis- 

 take, our scent as we started back to camp roused 

 another large moose not more than a quarter mile distant 

 from the scene of our kill and he raced up the hills ahead 

 of us. This one looked and probably was the game we 

 really had intended to shoot. 



The freezing weather had continued with about 

 thirty degrees of frost, so we put the stove into the large 

 tent on stakes capped with milk cans. About five in the 

 morning I awoke, finding my toes were about to freeze, 

 and went into the other tent, stoked the fire and warmed 

 myself to life. Then back I went to the little tent and 

 by breakfast time was cold again. 



Bill and I took a prospecting tour around the hills 

 above the camp to a point which overlooked Benjamin 

 Creek, about a mile above its junction with the Killey 

 River. From here we could see Tom Towle's cabin and 

 the several forks of Benjamin Creek far up in the moun- 

 tains, but no game except one porcupine. Alex and 

 Fritz had meanwhile brought up the moose head and 

 scalp and made everything ready to move camp the next 

 day. It was still cold; so cold that a little squirrel, 

 perched on one of the cottonwood trees, was too numb to 

 run away and let Alex approach within eight feet and 

 take his picture. 



