168 SPORT INDEED 



crafty of all wild animals, a fox, be ambling on 

 ahead of me in the road, unconscious of the fact that 

 there was a man behind him with a 40-82 rifle ? I 

 thought to myself, " Perhaps Reynard has had a good 

 night's hunt, and captured and eaten a partridge or 

 two with half-a-dozen field-mice by way of dessert, and 

 now he's contented and tired and on his way to his 

 habitation and his bed. 



I was too near the Caribou Bog to fire at him the 

 noise might alarm the game and so I walked on be- 

 hind him until my foot broke a. branch. He heard 

 the sound and the next instant I saw a streak of 

 yellow color flying through the trees. It was the last 

 appearance and exit of Mr. Fox. I watched for a 

 moment in the direction of his departure and fancied 

 I heard the pounding of a buck's forefoot. Just then 

 the sun shone out bright and warm and I stood for a 

 few minutes enjoying its rays and listening. The 

 pounding continued, but I finally concluded that it 

 came from a giant woodpecker hammering at one of 

 the trees. At this moment, turning my face and 

 looking up the road, I saw something that caused my 

 heart to beat a rataplan. Not thirty feet away and 

 coming toward me was a monstrous cow-moose. She 

 was apparently wrapped in thought, possibly of her 

 last night's happiness when she thrashed through the 

 alders and meadow grass with her lover him of the 

 towering antlers. There was a small sapling bent 



