208 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 9, 1898. 



THE MUSEUM MOOSE. 



"You say, Doc'or, you want um big moose, berry big?" 



"Yes, Nuel, want a vpry large one for a museum- 

 Want two, male and female." 



"And you say you give um me half crown day w'ile me 

 go hunt umwid you. An' w'en we kill um big moose, 

 fine blanket for self an' one for squaw, an' clof for pap- 

 poose, an' you fine eberyt'ing for eatV Is dat it?"' 



"Yes, that is it, Nuel." 



"An' now me wan' to know dis: Sposum me kill um 

 big moose an' you miss U-m, is it all same?" 



"Yes, Nuel, it is all the same. You shall have the 

 blankets and cloth if you get me a chance to shoot or if 

 you kill a moose yourself. And it' we get a nice moose 

 you are to have five crowns ext ; nd if we get two 

 then you are to have- ten crowns Now do you under- 

 stand?" 



"Ugha! Me hope me get um. Me go nex' moon. Two 

 week. Good time for call um. Nice day. Nice night. 

 Soon fros' come. You be ready? Me have good canoe 

 on river. You bring t'ings for eat — gun, blanket?" 



"Yes, Nuel, I will be ready and have everything at 

 your camp the day you name." 



These arrangements were made for the last week in 

 September, and the morning of the day appointed found 

 Nuel and myself making our way up the river. 



He had a good canoe. Rather larger than the usual 

 size. It was strong and well braced, and in its center 

 was pushed the baggage. 



When I thought of the portages we would have to 

 make I said to him: "Why, Nuel, this is a very heavy 

 canoe. How are you going to carry it?" 



"Ugha!" replied the good fellow. "You'll help um me, 

 sposum we wan' you, Dis my huntin' canoe. Hope we 

 bring um back two moose. We wan' um big canoe>" 



All this was said with a peculiar smile that at once won 

 my heart and at the same time convinced me that 1 was 

 with a man who "meant business." 



Although I had been much with the Indians, I had 

 never been with Nuel. I knew him only by reputation, 

 ■and he had the reputation of being a mighty hunter and 

 ■a most expert fisherman. Or at least he always knew 

 where to go for fish. As it was now, I felt satisfied with 

 my guide. My great wish was to make my guide feel 

 satisfied with me. I knew he would try me in different 

 ways before we had been many hours together. The ques- 

 tion was how was I to come out in these trials. 



Yery little was said for the first few hours. Nuel stood 

 in the stern a.nd forced the bark up against the current, 

 while I sat in the bow to look out for rocks and ward off 

 in case of need. Several times it seemed as though the 

 Indian was on the point of pushing us upon a sunken 

 rock that came just to the surface, when with a stroke of 

 the paddle I kept the canoe away. One not accustomed 

 to Indian strategy might have thought that he Was doing 

 good service, or that his guide did not know where he 

 was going, but as 1 turned around and looked at my guide 

 (who seemed utterly unconcerned) I knew at ohce that he 

 was trying my nerves or my skilk 



About 12 o'clock we landed for dinner. The only re- 

 mark the Indian made as we turned a sharp bend in the 

 river was, "Now we comin' good places for eat. You wan' 

 um big trout. No fros' yet. Them bite. Here good places. 

 I hungie," 



I could easily believe what he said of this pktte. We 

 were at the upper end of quite a pool that had a gravel 

 beach sloping down gradually to the Water. On the op- 

 posite side, 20yd3. away, were perpendicular rocks, rising 

 up to the height of 30ft. or more. The foot of these rocks 

 was now in the shade and much of the froth that floated 

 down from above seemed to have collected here. 



While Nuel was making a fire I jointed my rod. Had 

 I not seen him look out from under his old cap aevei-al 

 times as I ran the line through the rings-, I might have 

 thought he was as disinterested a spectator as he seemed 

 to be, but this made me think, "trying me again." How- 

 ever, I had not much to fear if the trout were really there. 

 I knew what I could do if I had a chance. 



Nuel had just got his fire started, I observed, as my 

 leader was straightened. My first cast sent the red and 

 yellowish green flies more than half way over to the rocks 

 and I had scarcely drawn them six feet before two trout 

 were on, 



"Ugha," said the Indian. "You got um fish. Two of 

 um. Me tot so. Take um care. Don' break um line. Me 

 Ian' um for you." 



I had no net, and was only too glad to have his helpv 

 He stood a sflent spectator until the fish were nearly 

 drowned. Then, as I di-ew back with my rod, he led them 

 in shore one after the other and tossed them upon the 

 beach. They were both nice fish, weighing, perhaps a 

 pound or more apiece. The only remark that Nuel made 

 was, "You catch um more. Me eat dees." 



Before I made another cast I took ol¥ one of my 

 flies. I felt anxious aboiit the line and the rod too. The 

 second cast brought another fish larger than either of 

 Nuel s, and now I w^as prepared to stop. "Doc'or not goin' 

 to wme in yet, is he?" said Nuel. "Wan' more for tea. 

 Ingin eat much. Ugha." 



"O," said I, "we will have ducks or partridges for tea. 

 You said we would see plenty, or we can catch some 

 more fresh trout." 



"Berry good," replied Nuel. "I s'pose you can shoot 

 um duck on fly. Maybe partridge, too, but da go on 

 tree. ■ ° 



"0, yes," said I, "any way." 



Then said Nuel: "1 guess we no starve, eben if big 

 moose scare away," 



The dinner was not eaten in silence. Indeed, the coffee 

 seemed to loosen Nuel's tongue. He told me a good deal 

 about the river we wt re on, wliat we would come to before 

 mght, and the salmon and the otters that he had cau^-ht 

 when he was a boy, just where we were camping. °By 

 his advice I was to have my gun ready for ducks, if we 

 should see any. There had not been much in our morn- 

 mg s journey to interest either of us. We had seen a 

 good many kingfishers and one sheldrake, several sand- 

 pipers and occasionally a bluejay or a wood pewee, or 

 one of the warblers would fly across the stream. But 

 there had been nothing to cause remark, wdiile the river 

 itseit with its occasional rifts and rapids absorbed the 

 attention. Then it ran through a region 

 that had been cut off for its lumber many years before 

 and a second growtli had never matured to any extent 

 by reason ot the fires that from time to time had run 

 through it. 



But now things were changing. We appeared to be 



going into darker and wilder [regions, and there were 

 more giant trees lying along the bank of the river. An 

 hour had not passed before we came to the first carry. It 

 was a short one, to escape a rapid that almost amounted 

 to a fall. Nuel did not want my help and I followed him 

 up the bank with my two guns and the saddlebags. We 

 returned for the rest of the baggage, and in less than 

 half an hour were launched again. As we were about to 

 push off a partridge flew Up, and then several followed it. 

 This was too much for Nuel. "You give lim me gun," 

 said he, "and 1 get tlm tea fol' you." With this I handed 

 him my double-barreled with the accoutrements. He 

 was not gone long before I heard him shoot twice in 

 quick succession, and then again a third shot a few 

 minutes later. In all he was absent twenty minutes, per- 

 haps, and returned with three nice partridges. He 

 seemed pleased as he took his place in the canoe and 

 said, "We make um up time 'fore sundown and get second 

 lake morrow night, ' And we did make up time passing 

 the falls and another carry before the last rays of the 

 setting sun had left the distant hilltops. 



While Nuel was cutting wood, and breaking twigs for 

 my bed, I carried up the baggage. The Indian then 

 went down and brought up the canoe. This he turned 

 over the twigs he had collected, placing it on edge and 

 saying as he did so, "Doc'or you nomine sleep un'er canoe 

 dis night. Have good camp morrow night. Dis be com- 

 fortable?" Nuel called me to "bring um rifle." He was 

 standing by the shore when I reached him. jfe*ointing 

 along the water up to the far end of the pond he said: 

 "You see um fat musquash sittin' on stick dare. Me wan' 

 um for tea. Me like Um. You hit um in eye. He no 

 dive den." 



The musktat was not really beyond point blank range. 

 The only difficulty was that I did not consider myself a 

 very good marksman, and had been out of practice for 

 several months. I tried to get Nuel to shoot the rat him- 

 self. His excuse was, "Me no use to gun; you kiU liim." 

 Seeing there was no way for me to get out of the trial, 

 I just drew up the rifle as we used to. in making snap 

 shots and fired. To my astonishment, and I think very 

 much to the Indian's too, the muskrat seemed to jump to 

 the shore, where he remained kicking and turning on his 

 back in a circle, 



"Ugha," said Nuel, "You kill um. You make almose 

 so good shot as Ingin, Dat kill um moose. You shoot 

 um otter for me, if we see um," I did not agree to this 

 proposition. I simply said, "O, no, you shoot otter, 1 

 might miss him." 



But now Nuel was bound to have his "musquash," so 

 the canoe was brought down and he went for it. When 

 he returned he simply saidt "You break Um bofe foreleg." 

 And sure enough, the ball had etitered in one side and 

 passed out the othet> teatitig away the breast bone in its 



In a few minutes the rat was skinned, and it and a 

 partridge were roasting on spits before the fire. Before 

 the darkness really closed in and the dvvlsl begah to hoot, 

 we were regaling oUl'selVes; NUel's IpfagUe Vas loosed 

 again, AmOilg other .tljiiUgS he Saidi " I dliik #e get um 

 big moose. YoU tU^is' haV' Shot. 1 once kiU um moose 

 ober dai-e ^hoddihg his head to indicate the hill across the 

 river). Dat owl say all same — ^ood luck." 



Indeed Nuel seemed to be quite elated for a quiet In- 

 dian. He appeared to think that he must entertain me. 

 And he did do so— both by his talk attd by imitating eVery 

 owl that hooted and every gtratige tioise that he heard. 

 How loUg he Would haVe talked I do hot khoW had I not 

 shaken the ashes out of my pipe ahd put it in its case. 



At this he sdid : Me tired, tob, all' we wan* to make um 

 early 9\,att iti iiit)):nin*. Me fix um fire and you go sleep." 

 With this I crawled under the canoe while — after Nuel 

 had put some large sticks on the fixe — he wrapped his 

 blankets around him, lay down vsdth his feet toward the 

 blaze, and was soon asleep. 



As for myself, it was some time before 1 slept* The 

 strangeness of the surroundings eeemed to impress me. 

 I thought of myself* so fat from my family^ in the wild 

 Woods and going further into theiti> Then With only one 

 man and he an Indiah* ahd a sttaUget to me at that. I 

 had neVer been in sUch a situation before. But we wanted 

 two moose, and We wanted them lairge and fine, and it 

 devolved upon me to secuJ-e them. 



These wel-e some of my reflectioUs as I looked oUt from 

 under the cattoe and saw the sleeping Indiatt, ahd the fire 

 burning low. But before the last stick had fallen apart 

 and its brands were burned) I slept. I must have slept 

 weU) too, for I was not cohscious of anything until I 

 heard Nuel's voice saying: " Big Doc'or sleep well in 

 woods. He beat Ingin. Mose got breakfas' cook." 



"Yes," said I, "but Doctor did not get to sleep so soon 

 as In^in. He watched Nuel, for fear bear cany him 

 away.' 



"Ughat" replied the Indian at once, "an' he go sleep 

 w'ile watchin'." 



To this I had nothiUg to say. 1 soon crawled out from 

 under my cover, had a slight bath to get my eyes open, 

 and was ready for breakfast. 



We were through this by dayhght, and by the time it 

 was light enough to see weU were on our way again. 



As we took our places in the canoe Nuel remarked, 

 "We good way go deday. Not get up morrow mornin' 

 so soon. You get um gun fix for duck. Maybe see um 

 black ones in lily pads. Get um many you can. We wan' 

 um. Day keep." 



This was just the prompting that I wanted. I felt like 

 ahooting, and knew that with such weather as we were 

 then having game would keep for a week. As we came 

 out from the shore everything looked still and somber and 

 wild. There was a slight mist upon the water and a little 

 fog seemed to rest upon the highest hill. We heard some- 

 thing scrambhng away among the underbrush as we 

 neared the place where the muskrat was killed. This led 

 the Indian to remark in a low voice. "Mink smell um 

 musquash blood." And immediately after he added, 

 "Now, Doc'or, look um sharp when we come roun' 

 poin'." 



Nor was his caution a moment too soon, for sure enough 

 as we came around the short bend with considerable 

 speed, up went a flock of two dozen black mallards. 

 They were within good shooting distance, and to the 

 astonishment of Nuel and the joy of myself five fell at the 

 report of tho two barrels. 



"I tole yJa we have good luck," said Nuel. "Owl say 

 so las' night. I tot ducks here. Hear um quack dis 

 mornin'? You make um good shot. We get some paore 

 'fore night," 



After the ducks were retrieved I had nothing to do for 

 some timejbut to look arotmd and advance. We were on 

 a narrow lake, perhaps three miles long by less than a 

 mile wide. Its sides were well wooded, even to the 

 water's edge, except an acre or so. of lily pads and matsh, 

 just where we had entered it and where the ducks had 

 been shot. We kept near its western shore, and I could 

 in places look under the hemlocks and spriices that gi-evV 

 near the margin. They gave me an impression of wild- 

 ness and solitude such as 1 had never had before. 



I had been told by INuel to have my rifle ready for 

 "calleboo" (caribou), but now we were almost at the upper 

 end of the lake and yet none had made their apisearance. 

 There were a great many grebes and loons on the lake; 

 several had called in their prolonged and dreary notes 

 and I could hear hermit thrushes and other birds calling 

 to each other as we passed along. Then we saw several 

 Canada jays and a red-shouldered hawk fly across the 

 lake. 



But the head was reached at length and now mote 

 poling had to be done. The river came in here and ran 

 through the lake. There were a good many miles of this 

 poling and some of it Was quite ditiicuit beforfe wS 

 reached our first carry. Bome of this joul'ney was entirely 

 without interest, except as Nilel told me "tO wjatth fol* 

 otter" and pointed Out several of theit ''slid^^" h^ 

 poled us upwaird. There w^ere not many kingfishers, but 

 I could see the different migrants as they flitted from 

 side to side of the river or explored the boughs above our 

 heads. 



About 2 o'clock we reached the first carry; it was quite 

 a long one to avoid some rapids and a small fall just 

 above them. It must have been nearly 11 when we 

 launched this time and before half an hour we were out 

 on the land again. This time, though, we were only half 

 a mile from the lake, at the upper end of which we 

 expected to spend the night, and perhaps all our time, 

 but that upper end was many miles away. 



As we came in below the rapids Nuel said, "Sposum 

 we have fish for eat now. Not ta,ke so much time for 

 cook, and den big feas' for tea.'' I Understood what he 

 meant. It was to get through now, and then make ft 

 glutton of himself when night came. However, 1 said 

 "Yes.'.' 



Then he replied, "You catch um fish here plenty big. 

 •Me go look for partridge in bush dare." The place to 

 which he pointed was to all appeflranCe a wide toad, cut 

 right along below the hUl, The only thing that told me 

 that it was not a road was that I could see the dead and 

 moss-cqvered trees loahihg at all S^ngifes againSt the bbf- 

 dering fotest, and telling at once that in the distant past 

 a whirlwind had visited the place and ruined its primitive 

 glory. 



After Nuel had kindled tlie fire I fitted him out with gun 

 and fixings, while 1 myself began casting where he had 

 directed. The second cast brought me a nice fish, not so 

 large as we had caught the day before, but large enough 

 for'a "pan fish." J. had six of them before I heard NrnTa 

 gun. This was followed by four shots in quite rapid suc- 

 cession. Meanwhile I had seven more fish before Nuel 

 returned. Fom* of them were in the pan when he came 

 back. 



He had five partridges. His first words as he dropped 

 the birds on the ground Were, "Dare! You shoot um duck 

 — me kill um partridge:'* 



It Was hot lotlg befofe the dinher was eatetl, aud 2 

 o'clock found Us ih the canoe dgain.,. We had half a mile 

 to pole before \ve entered the lake. This WaS hke a mln*ol'. 

 and aS yoli looked alohg itS Watfetff the tio^ning hills and 

 trees seemed to cast their image in its depthi; . . 



It began to thicken up. Nuel said , ' Me 'fraid we goih' 

 to hab rain denight. It look Uke it. An' I hear um loon 

 call much. Spos you take um paddle and help um me. 

 Me tell you w'en we come duck place." 



I was only too glad to help the poor fellow, for he had 

 a hard day of it. He said. "Hab um gun handy." 



So I took the paddle and we moved along faster. It 

 waa after fiVe When Nuel said, "Now we turn in here," 

 and brought the bow of the canoe to shore, in a little 

 cave on a heath of Coar.^e White sand. ' Dares where we 

 wan' go," said Noel, pointing; while at the same time he 

 landed the things oUt of the canoe and added, "Now we 

 hurry, me smell um rain comin'i You not get wet; me 

 got hark cahitt up dattei" 



I hui-ried Hp the little hahk With the saddle-bagS ifi QM 

 hand a,nd the guns in the other, while Nuel simply drew 

 the canoe on shore, turned it oVer and theh securing utt 

 armful of tilings, hurried np after me; "Dis way, Doc'or/' 

 said he, leading ofl! to the right while I was taking a left 

 hand course. Before I reached him 1 heard him fiayj 

 "Ugha," and when I got to where he was, "See dare/' 

 said he, "see what ol' bear do," pointihg at the same 

 time to a piece of bark that had been torn from the roof 

 of quite a snug Httle shanty: "Mus' fix dat," continued 

 Nuel, "'fore rain come. We put eberyt*ing in dry end. 

 You put um dare. Me fix um roof-^you call um.'* 



I soon had everything up, and it was not lolig hetote 

 the roof was repaired aa well as the Indian could do it at 

 the time. 



He then said to mei "Doc*or< you don' mine work um 

 leetle 'fore rain come?" 



"Oh, no," said I. "IwiUdo all I can. What do you 

 want me to do ?" 



" Den you break um bush for bed w'ile me get um 

 wood ? Me bring um you branch." 



In a few minutes he" returned with an armfxd of hem- 

 lock boughs, and then with another and another. Mean-' 

 while I had cleared out the old flooring, or bedding, of 

 the shanty. I had no idea of having any remnants of 

 Indian debris about me. I did not see anything offensive^ 

 however. The place appeared not to have been occujiied 

 for a year or more. 



By the time Nuel had his wood cut, the twigs were 

 broken. It was dark now, and I had felt a few drops of 

 rain. 



The Indian now went down and brought up the canoe, 

 remarking, as he laid it down opposite the camp: "Me 

 Uke to have um canoe where me can see um. Bear might 

 scratch um, or win' blow um on stone." 



I must say I liked Nuel's precaution. I felt it was setter 

 near us than on tlie beacJi. What a horse is on IjhiV'. 

 plains, or a camel in the desert, j,ust the same is a can,<3)e. 

 on lakes or rivers. There is uo getting along without 

 Before darkness had regularly settled down upon us 

 Nuel had brought up a kettle of water and raised a piece 

 of old spruce bark on two crolched slicks above the fire, 

 jiot large enough \o shed all the rain that would soon 



