V 



MOOSE-HUNTING 



THE next morning broke with the usual discouraging drizzle, 

 but about eight o'clock, between sheets of rain, we dis- 

 covered two bull moose about a mile distant, on the opposite 

 side of the canon. At this time of the year the bull moose 

 from the surrounding country seemed to have collected in this 

 and several adjoining valleys for the purpose of polishing their 

 antlers on the willows and stunted spruces at timber-line. The 

 light-colored blades of the antlers and great, black bodies of 

 the moose formed conspicuous objects as these animals fed 

 among the almost leafless willows, which grew to the height of 

 a man everywhere between timber-line and the bare rocks 

 above. 



A continuous hard rain during the night had swollen the 

 glacial stream, which flowed down the valley into a raging 

 torrent. This we had to cross in order to reach the moose. 

 After the Indians had spent an hour and a half at hard chopping, 

 and several felled trees had been swept away by the current, 

 we managed to construct a precarious bridge across the stream. 

 Then it was only by using long poles to steady ourselves and 

 advancing inch by inch that we managed to follow a series of 

 swaying trees to the opposite shore, through curling white 

 water which went hissing over our boot-tops. Two hours 

 afterward Howe, Mac, and I toiled up on the mountain-side, 

 trying vainly to locate the moose. According to Hungerford, 

 who had watched them with the glasses, as he had opportunity 



354 



