IN THE FAR WEST. 221 



miles, as the trails led into a dense thicket of foliaeeous trees, 

 which \ve subsequently found to be three miles from where we 

 first met the yard. On reaching this most welcome spot, 

 the dogs, which had been kept to heel before, were now set to 

 work, and in a few moments we heard a tremendous howl in 

 many keys directly in front. We knew then that the game was 

 started, and away we sped in pursuit at our best pace. As I 

 was not very proficient in the use of snow-shoes, I found the 

 run exceedingly laborious, and often sent myself sprawling 

 on the hard snow by my awkwardness. I also collided against 

 trees occasionally, and brought their white covering in showers 

 over my person. These might be pleasant enough if a portion 

 did not go down my neck and back, and make me shiver as if 

 I had been dipped in ice-water. The suddenness of the 

 showers also took my breath away sometimes, but the effect of 

 the shock was soon dissipated by streams of perspiration. 



The baying was rapidly waning in the distance, and my 

 companions had all vanished, when I concluded to halt to 

 tighten one of my shoes, which had become loose. While 

 engaged in that endeavour, I saw a splendid young bull 

 approaching, evidently on his way back to the yard, and 

 the only dog in pursuit was an active, wire-haired terrier 

 that was too busily engaged in snipping at his heels to have 

 time to give tongue. The bull went right through the deep 

 snow at every plunge, and the result was that he was almost 

 pumped, while his legs were bleeding from the wounds inflicted 

 by the crust. The terrier on seeing me began to wag its 

 tail and to bark and gambol around the unwieldy creature 

 that could not resent its annoyance, but when it placed 

 itself in front and commenced to growl and show its teeth 

 and snip at him, the maddened moose made several dashes at 

 it with his horns. This pestering prevented him from seeing 

 where he was going, so he floundered into a large drift nearly 

 deep enough to swallow him up, and whilst he was struggling 

 to extricate himself from that position, I approached and shot 

 him through the head; but after I had done it I did not feel 

 very proud of my exploit, as it resembled too closely the 

 shooting of a bound bull. He was so deeply mired that 



