IN THE FAR WEST. 219 



forest, unless I met, by the merest chance, some hunting 1 party. 

 They had been out searching for me since morning, and had 

 tracked me up to the place where I turned to the right the 

 previous night, while chasing the moose. When they reached 

 that point they saw trails of blood and followed them up for 

 some distance, thinking I had followed the animal directly, but 

 not finding my footsteps they concluded that I had halted 

 there and awaited daylight to return to camp. When I did 

 not return, however, they sallied out again, presuming I had 

 been lost, and knowing how men will act in such a situation, 

 they quartered the woods, and used the moose call, as it could 

 be heard a long distance off. Were they not provided with 

 that simple instrument, it is doubtful if they could have 

 found me, and I might now be in another world. Returning 

 to camp, about three miles distant, I made a hearty breakfast 

 of the moutle of a moose, and some cakes baked before the 

 fire, and soon felt as jovial as if I had never strayed from it. 



After bringing in the animals that were first killed, we 

 started in quest of the cause of my woe, and had little difficulty 

 in tracking him by his slots and the drops of blood, until we 

 reached the spot where he had lain down. From that point 

 we followed him easily, and were soon beside him. A 

 hungry puma had been feasting off him, however, while I 

 had been away, for a large portion of the throat and 

 shoulder were eaten off, and scarcely a drop of blood remained 

 in the body. As he was too far from camp to be hauled there, 

 he was skinned, and the carcass left for the use of carnivorous 

 birds and quadrupeds. I learned on my way back that my 

 hunting companion had also been charged by an infuriated 

 wounded bull the previous night, and only escaped by having 

 the Indian come to his aid just in time. We had, therefore, 

 killed four moose on that occasion ; no bad result for one 

 night's work. 



"Calling" moose is certainly exciting sport, and is full of 

 incidents, some of which may not, as in my own case, be very 

 pleasant for the time being, yet they are interesting to recall in 

 after-years. To still-hunt the moose successfully, a person 

 must resort to the same means employed in stalking any other 



