FOREST SPORTS. 
235 
dering stride beneath the ponderous hulk, and comparatively 
small and slender feet of the great Deer. 
Yet ever, at this disadvantage, so immense is the power, and 
so unwearied the vigor and speed of this noble animal, that, 
even when it breaks through the crust fetlock-deep, it will often 
require a chase of three successive days, at the best pace of a 
strong and active runner—and no one who is not strong and 
active can attempt this glorious sport—before the Moose is worn 
down so completely that its pursuer can run into view of it, and 
bring it down with a single ball, or even with a fowlingpiece 
and buck-shot. 
During the chase the excitement is intense, for a good wood¬ 
man, or an Indian, can tell with great certainty, by the appear¬ 
ance of the track, the comparative hardness or softness of the 
snow at the bottom of the prints, the dung which is dropped 
during the flight, and other signs, how far ahead the animal may 
be at any period, and, consequently, how fast you are gaining 
on him. The Moose lays up at night, and when it has become 
so daik that you can follow the trail no longer, you also build 
your fire for the night, and your followers having brought up 
the toboggins with the meat and “provant”—which they do the 
more readily, that with the Indian instinct they can almost inva¬ 
riably foresee the course of the hunted herd, and cut off the 
angles, or run the chords of the circles described by the hard- 
pressed quarry—you pass the night encamped as before, and 
arise again refreshed, and like a giant again to run your course. 
Then as the hunt waxes hot, the intense eagerness and ex¬ 
citement of pursuit still increases, nor does it lack the aliment 
whereon to exist, for as the herds in general follow the same 
line of flight, and all are not equally endowed with speed, pluck, 
and endurance, the younger, the weaker, and the unduly fat of 
the party, break down the first, and lagging in the rear—for in 
such a chase it is, indeed, the devil take the hindmost—are over¬ 
taken, and shot down by the foremost and fleetest runner, who, 
after finishing his victim with a thrust or two of his keen knife, 
and heralding his triumph to the followers by the proud “ who- 
