XXII 



NEZ' BIG MOOSE 



IE say yer won't like my story," 

 said Nez, shyly, as he leaned for- 

 ward toward the fire, tipping 

 up the bench on which he was 

 seated, and began whittling a 

 miniature tent-pin from a scrap 

 of pine kindling that had fallen 

 on the hearth ; for, in spite of his 

 years of tramping, he had never 

 conquered the nervous Yankee 

 habit of keeping his hands busy. He did not raise his 

 head as he spoke, but seemed to be talking to the fire 

 more than to the people, his words being such a dialect 

 mixture that the children had to listen well to under- 

 stand him, and I am sure if they were to be spelled 

 quite as they sounded, you would never be able to 

 read them. 



" I've seen enough Deer in my day and tried heaps 

 of ways of huntin', some fair, some ornery, some mean, 

 and some meaner ; but, lookin' back on it, there's only 

 one way of huntin' and one beast worth huntin', — that 

 way is stalkin' and follerin', and that beast is Moose! 

 Of course I don't mean huntin' to feed yer camp or 

 yerself . Feed huntin' is different, — anything yer can 

 eat and anyway to get it goes then. 



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