5 68 



RECREATION 



a mile, and here the trail came to a brook, 

 which Phillips said connected Loon and 

 Hardwood Lakes. Here we stopped and 

 Phillips whispered to me: ''Charlie, keep your 

 ears peeled, for we're after a great big bull 

 and we're right alongside of him." 



By this time I was getting pretty well 

 worked up and was praying that something 

 would turn up to relieve the tension on my 

 nerves, for even to my inexperienced eyes it 

 was very apparent that we were getting very 

 close up to our game. 



After looking all around us and straining 

 our eyes into the thicket we followed the 

 tracks again, just creeping along, and our 

 rifles ready for instant use. 



In about another hundred yards we could 

 see the glint of the water between the trees 

 and just then we heard a kind of a grunt, 

 and Phillips grabbed me by the arm and 

 said very excitedly: "Lord, Charlie, he's in 

 the lake, and we've got him sure !" 



We stole noiselessly down to the edge, and 

 when I parted the screen of boughs to look 

 out my heart seemed to jump in my mouth, 

 for there, sure enough, was the moose wad- 

 ing slowly along the shore, but a long dis- 

 tance from us. 



I pointed him out to Phillips and asked, 

 "What in the deuce will we do now?" For 

 I thought we could never hit him at that 

 range. He said : "I guess we'll have to try 

 him." 



"Well," I said, "you had better fire first, 

 for you're a better shot than I am." Then 

 we both took careful aim and I waited for 

 him. In a second he fired and I saw the ball 

 hit the water fully fifty yards this side of the 

 moose, but directly in range. Then I fired, 

 and where I struck we could not tell, then 

 Phillips fired again and I twice more just as 

 quickly as I could work the lever. By this 

 time the moose was just sticking his head in 

 the woods, and Phillips was loading his gun 

 like mad and saying to me: "Give it to him; 

 give it to him ; he'll get away from us !" And 

 just as his head was out of sight behind the 

 trees I fired again, but as soon as I did so 1 

 said to Phillips : "That shot was wasted, for 

 I know I fired a mile high." Then the moose 

 disappeared in the woods and I never ex- 

 pected to see him again. Plowever, as soon 

 as Phillips had loaded up we started around 

 the lake, and after awhile found the track. 

 We followed it for a short distance, then 

 separated, one of us going on either side of 

 it, thinking that by so doing we might head 

 off the moose as he turned for either up or 

 down the lake, as we thought he would do 

 next. 



We had scarcely lost sight of each other 

 when I heard Phillips fire, and he called to 

 me and said : "I got him, Charlie." I started 

 in his direction as fast as I could go, when 



again I heard Phillips yell : "Look out, Char- 

 lie; he's up and making for the lake; head 

 him off quick !" 



With this I scrambled through the thickets 

 and ran toward the lake. Once I caught a 

 glimpse of the top of a horn between the 

 trees, but could not find an opening through 

 which to shoot. When I parted the bushes at 

 the edge of the lake and looked out the 

 moose was down flat in the water, but when 

 he saw me he made a great effort and got on 

 his feet again. I fired without taking time to 

 put the rifle to my shoulder, and down he 

 went again. 



Phillips now came running up, and when 

 he saw the moose plunging around, raised his 

 gun, but instead of hearing a loud report, we 

 only heard a slight one. His gun had missed 

 fire. I put up my rifle, too, and snapped. My 

 rifle was empty. 



Here certainly was a nice state of affairs. 

 A wounded moose not more than twenty feet 

 from us and both of our guns out of business 

 and our ammunition in a boat about a mile 

 away from us. 



I looked at Phillips and he looked at me. I 

 said to him : "Well, by Jove, we're in a nice 

 fix now. What are we going to do?" 



In a minute he had thought of a scheme 

 and told me I would mave to stay there and 

 watch the moose while he went back to the 

 boat and got some cartridges and an axe, in 

 case we had to build a raft to tow the car- 

 cass ashore. 



As I couldn't see anything else to do I 

 agreed to stand watch over the moose, and 

 he started off for the boat. 



I think the next hour was the longest one 

 I have ever put in, for every time I would 

 stir that moose would toss his head around 

 and roll those blood-shot eyes at me and try 

 his hardest to get at me. 



After what seemed to be an age I heard 

 Phillips coming through the woods*, and the 

 moose heard him, too, and making a supreme 

 effort he turned and plunged out in the lake, 

 perhaps twenty yards. 



By this time Phillips was standing by me, 

 and with him he brought some rifle car- 

 tridges, rope, an axe and my little .22 rifle as 

 well. I asked him what he brought that for, 

 and he said he wanted me to try a shot at the 

 moose's horns with it to see if that wouldn't 

 make him get off in deep water and force him 

 to swim across the lake, which would save us 

 carrying the meat all the way around. 



I tried this and it worked to perfection, 

 and although he found bottom twice before 

 he got across, a well directed shot would 

 make him start off again. When he seemed 

 to be pretty close to the other shore we went 

 around after him and came out on a long 

 point at one side of where we thought he 

 would be. He was standing in the water up 



