Lake Umbagog
Moose Point
1896
August 27
(No 7)
he appeared again marching along the side of a slight
ridge which terminates at the head of the creek and
which extends at right angle with my position for a
distance of forty yards or more. On this hard open
ground I saw him to great advantage & under conditions very different
from those of the foggy, grass-encumbered marsh,
and in several respects he looked and acted like a
different animal, showing such excessive length of
legs that, by comparison, the body appeared to have
been suddenly shortened and moving with a stride
so easy and elastic yet withal so long and quick
that although it was evidently only his ordinary
walking gait a man would probably have been forced
to run to keep up with him.
[margin]Moose[/margin]
  On reaching the shore he paused a moment and
lowering his head snuffed the water. As he stood facing
the creek I expected to see him wade across it and
as the water is scarce a foot deep I did not care
to approach very near but when, after a moment of
hesitation, he turned and entered Leonard's Pond I
seised[sic] my paddle and at once started in pursuit.
The experience of the next few minutes was exciting
enough. For the first twenty yards the Moose had to
wade through tenacious mud and gradually deepening
water and being probably unaware of my pursuit
he advanced rather slowly & I gained on him
rapidly. But when he got beyond his depth he
moved faster and fearing that he would escape me
I strained every nerve & muscle to the utmost. At
length to my intense joy I found that I was
overtaking him but for a second time I found my