

MOOSE HUNTING. 97 



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bed ; blankets are unrolled and stretched over the boughs, •, !i{! 



and finding, to my joy, that the rain had not reached the ■ ' 



change of clothes packed in my bundle, I presently recline ' , 



at full length under the sheltering camp, in front of a 



roaring fire, which is rapidly vaporising the moisture ;; '^ \ 



contained in my recent garments, suspended from the 



top of the camp in front. Joe is still abroad, providing \:'^ 



a further stock of firewood for the night, whilst his son 



is squatting over the fire with a well-filled frying-pan, 



and its hissi j sounds drown the pattering of the rain- 



di'ops. 



After our comfortable meal followed the fragrant weed, 

 of course, and a discussion as to what we should do on 



the morrow. The barrens we had come to were of o-reat ii- 



extent, and of a very bad nature for travelling, the ground '^-i 



being most intricately strewed with the dead trees of the ,'^i. 



forest which once covered it, and the briars and bushes |: 



overgrowing and concealing their sharp broken limbs and N^ 



rouo;h o;i"anite rocks, often cause a severe bruise or fall to w 

 the hunter. It was, as Joe said, a "grand place" for 



calling the moose, as in some spots the countiy could be ,| 



scanned for miles around, whilst the numerous small r 



bushes and rock boulders would afford a ready conceal- | • 



ment from the quick sight of this animal However, It 



time would show. If calling could not be attempted next p 



morning, it would most likely be suitable for creeping ; I 



so, hoping for a calm morning and a clear sky, or, at all I" 



events, for a cessation of the rain, we stretched ourselves |' 



for repose ; and the pattering drops, the crackings and I' ; 

 sna])i)ings of the logs on the fire, and the hootings of the 



owls in the distant fcirest, became less and less heeded or 'Ife; 



. 1 ft.-.' 



heai'd, till sleep translated us to the land of dreams, • I' 



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