THE ODYSSEY OF OLD BILL 85 
swamps. Here they had never been molested, 
and here there was no sound of the terrifying 
guns, except from a great distance. They looked 
for the other moose who used to be there, the elk, 
the deer, but none appeared, except a white-tailed 
deer or two who were not familiar, and two elk, 
who, like them, had escaped the round-up. The 
three moose retreated to their old browsing 
grounds by the pond, where, a day or two later, 
the one keeper who still lived on in the white 
farmhouse discovered their tracks. But it was 
too late now to try to catch them and ship them 
away. Instead, he smiled to himself, and got his 
sled out to be ready with hay when the deep snows 
came. 
Meanwhile, something had happened to the 
three men who had killed the cow moose. Bill 
and his parents knew nothing about this, but all 
the other hunters heard of it. The State game 
warden for the district, Bill Snyder, on his rounds 
through the forests, had come upon these men, 
red handed, as they were trying to get their booty 
out. As moose are absolutely protected in 
Massachusetts, Bill hauled them into court, and 
