JVfiZ' BIG MOOSE 313 



after light. It was the season for call in', but that was 

 night work and I hadn't caught well on to that then, 

 though I did it seasons after when it wuz my turn to 

 keep the camp in meat." 



" Is there a season for calling ? Why can't you do 

 it any time, day or night ? " asked Rap. 



"Because Moose only talk and shout and make a 

 noise in the mating season. You have to ' call ' in the 

 night, because if it was light the Moose would see you 

 was a man and not its mate. My sakes ! aren't Moose 

 keen, though ! Nothing but Wolves can beat 'em at 

 smellin' and hearin' ; but then, look at the size of 

 their ears ! "' 



" Yes, and their noses, too ; I guess they were made 

 to hold extra big smell boxes," said Dodo. 



" They can smell anything. If yer reckless with a 

 campfire, or let the wind carry a whiff of tobacco even, 

 you'll see no Moose that day. Then, in spite of their 

 big bodies and horns, they can steal off on those long 

 legs o' theirn as soft as a Wildcat, and they've got 

 human sense enuff to lie down facin' their tracks to see 

 what is foUerin'." 



" They have very long legs, to be sure," said Rap. 



" The longest of any beast in this country anyhow. 

 They air jest made handy to pasture on trees and 

 bush tops and keep above decent snow, and if they 

 want a mouthful of short grass they've got to duck 

 for it. Now the Moose is a bog trotter, except in dead 

 of winter, and Dom'nick and me allowed to go down 

 to the pine swamps, for, though it was cold and there 

 was some ice, the Moose hadn't left their water feed- 

 in' and made up parties to yard for the winter. " 



