100 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



Indian procliiiined tlio unwelcome fact. At lenotli avc 

 reached the most elevated part of the barren. We could 

 see the wooded hills of the opposite shore of the lake 

 i looming darkly thi'ough the mist, and here and there a 



i portion of its dark waters. The country was very open; 



nothing but moss and stunted hucklebeny bushes, about 

 I a foot and a lialf in height, covered it, save here and 



I there a bunch of dwarf maples, with a ft'W scarlet leaves 



i still clinging to them. The f(>rms of prostrate trunks, 



i;- blackened by fire, lying across the bleached rocks, often 



I gave me a start, as, seen at a distance through the dark 



>: misty air, they resembled the forms of our long-sought 



r game — particularly so when siiniiounted by twisted roots 



!;' upheaved in their fall, w^hich appeared to crown them 



j5 "with antlers. 



ff " Stop, Capten ! not a move ! " suddenly whispered old 



I,/ Joe, who was crossing the barren a few yards to my left ; 



j!, " don't move one bit ! " he half hissed and half said 



through his teeth. "Down — sink down — slow — like 



i; : me ! " and we all gradually subsided in the wet bushes. 



j I had not seen him : I knew it was a moose, though I 



;"* dared not ask Joe, but cpiietly awaited further directions. 



Presently, on Joe's invitation, I slowly dragged my l)ody 



through the bushes to him, " Now you see him, Capten — 



•t there; — there ! My sakes, what fine bull ! What pity 



we not a little nearer — such open country ! " 



There he stood — a oio-antic fellow — black as nioht, 



moving his head, which was surmounted by massive 



'< white-looking horns, slowly from side to side, as he 



:,C scanned the country around. He evidently had not seen 



us, and was not alarmed, so we all breathed freely. This 



success on our part was partly attributable to the sudden- 



