THE CHASE. 359 
ping backwards and forwards above the bushes. Another half 
hour passes in creeping like snakes through the wet bushes, 
which we can scarcely hope will conceal us much longer. It 
seems an age, and often, and anxiously, I look at the cap of my 
single-barrel rifle. J am ahead, and at length judging one hun- 
dred and twenty yards to be the distance, I can stand it no 
longer, but resolve to decide matters by a shot, and fire through 
an opening in the bushes of the swamp. Joe understands my 
glance, and placing the call to his lips, utters the challenge of the 
bull-moose. Slowly and majestically the great animal rises, 
directly facing me, and gazes upon me fora moment. A head- 
long stagger follows the report, and he wheels around behind a 
clump of bushes. 
“«¢ Bravo! you hit him, you hit sure enough,’ shouts Joe, level- 
ing and firing at the cow-moose, which had unknown to us been 
lying close beside the bull. ‘Come along,’ and we all plunge 
headlong into the swamp. Dreadful cramps attacked my legs, 
and almost prevented me from getting through, — the result of 
sudden violent motion, after the restrained movement, in the 
cold, wet moss, and huckleberry bushes. A few paces on the 
other side, and the great bull suddenly rose in front of us, and 
strided on into thick covert. Another shot and he sinks lifeless 
at our feet. The first ball had entered the very centre of his 
breast, and cut the lower portion of the heart. 
“Late that night our canoe glided through the dark waters of 
the lake towards the settlement. The massive head and antlers 
were with us. 
««¢ Ah, Grandmother,’ said Joe, as we passed the indistinct out- 
lines of the spirit rocks, * you very good to us this time, anyhow ; 
very much we thank you, Grandmother !’ 
“<¢It’s a pity, Joe,’ I observed, ‘ that we have not time to see 
whether the offerings of yesterday are gone or not; but mind, 
you go up the lake again to-morrow to bring out the meat, 
and don’t forget your Grandmother, for I really think she has 
been most kind to us.’” 
All the essential elements for still-hunting the Moose are man- 
ifested in this single narrative. 
A thorough knowledge of the habits of the animal must teach 
the hunter where to look for him at certain seasons of the year, 
or at particular times of the day, in fair or in stormy weather. 
The superior vision of man over that of the Moose, is more than 
compensated to the latter by the advantage of his position, being 
