BIG MOOSE OF LITTLE TOBIQUE 1 1 1 



The tramp covered perhaps twenty miles, and when 

 again I reached our clump of cedars, tired nature 

 cried for a rest. As our plan was to lie out all night, 

 we had brought blankets with us, also a steamer rug, 

 but had left the latter under the butt of a fallen tree 

 further down the lake. After the guide had cut a 

 few spruce boughs to make a mattress, I sent him 

 back for the rug and then threw my tired limbs upon 

 the spruce boughs. Twenty minutes or more passed 

 and the guide not returning I thought he might have 

 seen a moose on his way back and feared he might 

 scare him by returning in a direct way to the cedars. 

 Eaising myself slowly from the spruce boughs, I 

 looked around me, and felt convinced that I was right 

 in my conjecture. A hundred and fifty yards away, 

 and directly within the line of trees on the far side of 

 the cove and to my left, I was sure I saw the young 

 bull with the upright antlers. He stood " head on " 

 with his body shielded by the trees, leaving his head 

 and neck alone visible. To shoot or not to shoot was 

 the question, and I had to decide quickly, for the scant 

 daylight was fast melting away in the coming night. 

 A moment of doubt, and then, after careful aim, I 

 fired. I looked, expecting to see the fellow drop. But 

 he didn't drop. This rather astonished me, but there 

 was more astonishment in store he hadn't moved. 

 Putting in another cartridge, again I fired and again 

 I looked. The upright antlers were still there in 



