Moose C alii fig. 133 



and a panic-stricken hunter was scratching and smash- 

 ing in a desperate hurry up among the branches of 

 a low spruce, as if only the tiptop were half high 

 enough. Mitchell was nowhere to be seen : unless 

 one had the eyes of an owl to find him down among 

 the roots of a fallen pine. 



But the first moose smashed straight through the 

 thicket without looking up or down ; and out on the 

 open barren a tremendous struggle began. There 

 was a minute's confused uproar, of savage grunts 

 and clashing antlers and pounding hoofs and hoarse, 

 labored breathina; : then the excitement of the hLjht 

 was too strong to be resisted, and a dark form wrig- 

 gled out from among the roots, onlv to stretch itself 

 flat under a bush and peer cautiously at the struggling 

 brutes not thirty feet awav. Twice Mitchell hissed 

 for his emploA'cr to come do\\"n ; but tliat worthv \\-as 

 safe astride the highest branch that would bear his 

 •weight, with no desire e^'identh" for a better view of 

 the fight. Then INIitchell found the rifle among the 

 bushes and, waiting till the bulls backed away for one 

 of their furious charges, killed the larger one in his 

 tracks. The second stood startled an instant, with 

 raised head and muscles quivering, then dashed away 

 across the barren and into the forest. 



Such encounters are often numbered among the 

 tragedies of the great wilderness. In tramping 



