[Contents]CHAPTER XXVISTALKING A MOOSEOne morning, when the lads awoke at day-break, Ganawa was gone. The lads arose, started the fire in the tepee and boiled some fresh beaver meat. The night had been quite cold and some hot broth seemed good for breakfast.The boys had guessed right that Ganawa had gone scouting for moose tracks, and in a short time he returned to tell the boys that during the night a young moose had crossed the lake near their camp and had travelled east against the wind.“We must eat,” he said, “and then we must follow the moose. We must wear our warm winter moccasins and we must take our blankets, for no hunter can tell how far he may have to track a moose.”It took some time before the hunters were ready to take the trail. “The moose may be[203]a long way ahead of us,” Ganawa told the lads, “because I cannot tell at what time of the night he passed our camp. We must follow him slowly and you, my sons, and the dog must travel a good way behind me so we do not scare him. If we scare him, he will start running and we shall lose him.”The animal had been going at a walk. He had followed the general direction of a small spring stream that enters Lake Anjigami near the camp of the hunters. This spring brook heads in a spruce swamp about a mile from the lake. “If he has gone into that swamp it will be very difficult to follow him,” remarked Ganawa, as the hunters started on the trail.It was found that the game had passed along the spruce swamp. At the end of the swamp it had turned leisurely a little more easterly until it came to a high ridge within sight of one of those small lakes which are scattered by the tens of thousands over a region north and south of Lake Superior.On the high ridge the moose had fed on[204]the twigs of young poplar trees, breaking down some of them of the thickness of a man’s wrist. At the north end of the lake it had crossed the outlet and had stopped to feed on some low willows and juneberry bushes. It had not touched pin-cherry and choke-cherry, but it had fed freely on young white birches and on the bushy moose-maple, which never grows to tree size.“How can an animal grow big and fat when it eats nothing but wood?” asked Ray.“The little twigs, my son, which the moose eats are not all wood,” replied Ganawa. “There is much food in them and in the buds. Moose and deer live on browse in the winter, grouse and fool-hens live on buds, rabbits and mice live on bark, and if the squirrels have not enough hazelnuts and seeds they also eat buds.”After they had cautiously followed the trail for about two hours, Ganawa sat down on a log.“My sons,” he said, “take a rest. This track was made last night. In some open[205]spots the wind has filled in the footprints and in some sheltered spots the sun has melted the edges of the snow just a little bit. I fear he is a long way ahead of us, but if it does not begin to snow, we must follow him till we find him; for when the weather gets cold the wolves may drive all the moose out of the country.”During the afternoon, the hunters found several places where the moose had lain down. As the wind had veered toward the north, the game had also turned north. “He smells danger ahead of him,” Ganawa told the boys, “and he listens for danger behind him. He has not been scared and does not know that hunters are following him.”About an hour before sunset, the hunters made camp in a sheltered hollow near a small stream, and built a fire on the leeward side of a big log.“We may build a fire,” said Ganawa, “but we must not use our axes. If the moose hears the sound of an ax, he will get up and run a league.”[206]After the hunters had eaten their meat and drunk some hot broth, they scraped away the snow from the ground and made a bed of spruce and balsam boughs. Bruce and Ganawa gathered some more dead wood for the fire, but Ray was so tired that he wrapped himself in his blankets, and very soon he fell asleep with Tawny curled up at his feet.For some time Bruce and Ganawa tended the fire in silence, for the ever-changing flames of a camp-fire seem to incite the imagination to recall the past and to peer behind the veil of the future. During the night Bruce and Ganawa took turns replenishing the fire, for no camp-fire can be built in such a way that it will keep a man warm all night without being replenished several times. This is especially true if dry and dead wood has to be used. But even under the most favorable circumstances, when the camper has cut stout back-logs or can use rocks as a back-wall and can use green birch, hickory, ash, or hard maple as fuel, he will have to[207]get up once or twice, for even the green woods mentioned burn fast with the free access of air.The night was not cold, as winter nights go, and when, after a hearty breakfast of toasted meat, boiled meat and hot broth, the hunters again took up the trail, each of them felt fit to follow the trail all day.It was just light enough to see the tracks when they started, and Ganawa cautioned the lads to avoid all noise. “Be very careful not to break any sticks, and you must not talk. It may be,” he explained, “that the moose is leagues ahead of us, but we cannot tell; he may not be far away. You, my sons, should walk about fifty paces behind me, and you must be sure not to let Ohnemoosh break away when I see the moose.”They had travelled about a mile when the lads were made to realize that their guide had not needlessly cautioned them against making noise. He now halted suddenly and motioned the lads not to come nearer. Then he peered carefully through some bushes just[208]ahead, but presently motioned to the lads to come up to him.“Look!” he said, pointing to the bed of a moose. “It is almost warm yet. I think we scared him.” The tracks showed plainly that the moose had stood for a moment facing his back trail. Then he had turned around short and trotted off in a northwesterly direction against the wind, for during the last twenty-four hours the wind had swung around from northeast to northwest.“We must wait here,” Ganawa advised, “so he will get over being scared.” And as the hunters stood and looked around, they saw that the evening before the moose had fed freely on poplar and birch brush close by, and had then selected a well-sheltered bed behind a thicket of spruce, where he had been apparently lying down all night.After an hour’s rest, the hunters again took up the trail, and they found that the moose had soon slowed down to a walk.Early in the afternoon the moose suddenly appeared in plain view, as the hunters peered[209]over a ridge. There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows. By crawling a few rods westward behind the ridge, Ganawa approached within thirty yards and brought down his game with one carefully aimed shot. Ganawa carried an old Hudson Bay smooth-bore gun, and he seldom fired at moose or deer at a longer range.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.Lead and powder were so very expensive to the old-time Indians that they could not afford the wild shooting of many present-day white hunters, but were compelled to stalk their game until they had approached within close range.The hunters set to work at once to dress their game, but the afternoon was well advanced when the meat was cut up and hung up in trees out of reach of the wolves. Certain choice parts they had laid aside for a big hunters’ feast: The tongue, a piece of the stomach which makes excellent tripe, the kidneys, a piece of liver and some choice fat steak and a piece of suet. The hunters had[210]walked some ten miles; they had not eaten fresh moose meat for weeks and they felt ravenously hungry.In a very short time there would be meat broiled, meat fried, and meat boiled, and they would have a feast such as only hungry hunters and explorers ever enjoy.So busy had the boys been cutting out the meat and hanging it up in trees that they had not noticed a change in the weather. And now a great disappointment was in store for them. Ganawa climbed up on a big rock and pointed toward the northwest. “Look, my sons,” he said earnestly. “Do you see the black clouds? They will bring snow and a big, cold wind; and very soon it will be dark. Take up the meat for our feast and follow me. We must walk fast to find a good shelter, or we shall freeze to death. This ridge and the small bushes will give us no shelter in a storm and no wood for our fire.”[211]
[Contents]CHAPTER XXVISTALKING A MOOSEOne morning, when the lads awoke at day-break, Ganawa was gone. The lads arose, started the fire in the tepee and boiled some fresh beaver meat. The night had been quite cold and some hot broth seemed good for breakfast.The boys had guessed right that Ganawa had gone scouting for moose tracks, and in a short time he returned to tell the boys that during the night a young moose had crossed the lake near their camp and had travelled east against the wind.“We must eat,” he said, “and then we must follow the moose. We must wear our warm winter moccasins and we must take our blankets, for no hunter can tell how far he may have to track a moose.”It took some time before the hunters were ready to take the trail. “The moose may be[203]a long way ahead of us,” Ganawa told the lads, “because I cannot tell at what time of the night he passed our camp. We must follow him slowly and you, my sons, and the dog must travel a good way behind me so we do not scare him. If we scare him, he will start running and we shall lose him.”The animal had been going at a walk. He had followed the general direction of a small spring stream that enters Lake Anjigami near the camp of the hunters. This spring brook heads in a spruce swamp about a mile from the lake. “If he has gone into that swamp it will be very difficult to follow him,” remarked Ganawa, as the hunters started on the trail.It was found that the game had passed along the spruce swamp. At the end of the swamp it had turned leisurely a little more easterly until it came to a high ridge within sight of one of those small lakes which are scattered by the tens of thousands over a region north and south of Lake Superior.On the high ridge the moose had fed on[204]the twigs of young poplar trees, breaking down some of them of the thickness of a man’s wrist. At the north end of the lake it had crossed the outlet and had stopped to feed on some low willows and juneberry bushes. It had not touched pin-cherry and choke-cherry, but it had fed freely on young white birches and on the bushy moose-maple, which never grows to tree size.“How can an animal grow big and fat when it eats nothing but wood?” asked Ray.“The little twigs, my son, which the moose eats are not all wood,” replied Ganawa. “There is much food in them and in the buds. Moose and deer live on browse in the winter, grouse and fool-hens live on buds, rabbits and mice live on bark, and if the squirrels have not enough hazelnuts and seeds they also eat buds.”After they had cautiously followed the trail for about two hours, Ganawa sat down on a log.“My sons,” he said, “take a rest. This track was made last night. In some open[205]spots the wind has filled in the footprints and in some sheltered spots the sun has melted the edges of the snow just a little bit. I fear he is a long way ahead of us, but if it does not begin to snow, we must follow him till we find him; for when the weather gets cold the wolves may drive all the moose out of the country.”During the afternoon, the hunters found several places where the moose had lain down. As the wind had veered toward the north, the game had also turned north. “He smells danger ahead of him,” Ganawa told the boys, “and he listens for danger behind him. He has not been scared and does not know that hunters are following him.”About an hour before sunset, the hunters made camp in a sheltered hollow near a small stream, and built a fire on the leeward side of a big log.“We may build a fire,” said Ganawa, “but we must not use our axes. If the moose hears the sound of an ax, he will get up and run a league.”[206]After the hunters had eaten their meat and drunk some hot broth, they scraped away the snow from the ground and made a bed of spruce and balsam boughs. Bruce and Ganawa gathered some more dead wood for the fire, but Ray was so tired that he wrapped himself in his blankets, and very soon he fell asleep with Tawny curled up at his feet.For some time Bruce and Ganawa tended the fire in silence, for the ever-changing flames of a camp-fire seem to incite the imagination to recall the past and to peer behind the veil of the future. During the night Bruce and Ganawa took turns replenishing the fire, for no camp-fire can be built in such a way that it will keep a man warm all night without being replenished several times. This is especially true if dry and dead wood has to be used. But even under the most favorable circumstances, when the camper has cut stout back-logs or can use rocks as a back-wall and can use green birch, hickory, ash, or hard maple as fuel, he will have to[207]get up once or twice, for even the green woods mentioned burn fast with the free access of air.The night was not cold, as winter nights go, and when, after a hearty breakfast of toasted meat, boiled meat and hot broth, the hunters again took up the trail, each of them felt fit to follow the trail all day.It was just light enough to see the tracks when they started, and Ganawa cautioned the lads to avoid all noise. “Be very careful not to break any sticks, and you must not talk. It may be,” he explained, “that the moose is leagues ahead of us, but we cannot tell; he may not be far away. You, my sons, should walk about fifty paces behind me, and you must be sure not to let Ohnemoosh break away when I see the moose.”They had travelled about a mile when the lads were made to realize that their guide had not needlessly cautioned them against making noise. He now halted suddenly and motioned the lads not to come nearer. Then he peered carefully through some bushes just[208]ahead, but presently motioned to the lads to come up to him.“Look!” he said, pointing to the bed of a moose. “It is almost warm yet. I think we scared him.” The tracks showed plainly that the moose had stood for a moment facing his back trail. Then he had turned around short and trotted off in a northwesterly direction against the wind, for during the last twenty-four hours the wind had swung around from northeast to northwest.“We must wait here,” Ganawa advised, “so he will get over being scared.” And as the hunters stood and looked around, they saw that the evening before the moose had fed freely on poplar and birch brush close by, and had then selected a well-sheltered bed behind a thicket of spruce, where he had been apparently lying down all night.After an hour’s rest, the hunters again took up the trail, and they found that the moose had soon slowed down to a walk.Early in the afternoon the moose suddenly appeared in plain view, as the hunters peered[209]over a ridge. There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows. By crawling a few rods westward behind the ridge, Ganawa approached within thirty yards and brought down his game with one carefully aimed shot. Ganawa carried an old Hudson Bay smooth-bore gun, and he seldom fired at moose or deer at a longer range.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.Lead and powder were so very expensive to the old-time Indians that they could not afford the wild shooting of many present-day white hunters, but were compelled to stalk their game until they had approached within close range.The hunters set to work at once to dress their game, but the afternoon was well advanced when the meat was cut up and hung up in trees out of reach of the wolves. Certain choice parts they had laid aside for a big hunters’ feast: The tongue, a piece of the stomach which makes excellent tripe, the kidneys, a piece of liver and some choice fat steak and a piece of suet. The hunters had[210]walked some ten miles; they had not eaten fresh moose meat for weeks and they felt ravenously hungry.In a very short time there would be meat broiled, meat fried, and meat boiled, and they would have a feast such as only hungry hunters and explorers ever enjoy.So busy had the boys been cutting out the meat and hanging it up in trees that they had not noticed a change in the weather. And now a great disappointment was in store for them. Ganawa climbed up on a big rock and pointed toward the northwest. “Look, my sons,” he said earnestly. “Do you see the black clouds? They will bring snow and a big, cold wind; and very soon it will be dark. Take up the meat for our feast and follow me. We must walk fast to find a good shelter, or we shall freeze to death. This ridge and the small bushes will give us no shelter in a storm and no wood for our fire.”[211]
CHAPTER XXVISTALKING A MOOSE
One morning, when the lads awoke at day-break, Ganawa was gone. The lads arose, started the fire in the tepee and boiled some fresh beaver meat. The night had been quite cold and some hot broth seemed good for breakfast.The boys had guessed right that Ganawa had gone scouting for moose tracks, and in a short time he returned to tell the boys that during the night a young moose had crossed the lake near their camp and had travelled east against the wind.“We must eat,” he said, “and then we must follow the moose. We must wear our warm winter moccasins and we must take our blankets, for no hunter can tell how far he may have to track a moose.”It took some time before the hunters were ready to take the trail. “The moose may be[203]a long way ahead of us,” Ganawa told the lads, “because I cannot tell at what time of the night he passed our camp. We must follow him slowly and you, my sons, and the dog must travel a good way behind me so we do not scare him. If we scare him, he will start running and we shall lose him.”The animal had been going at a walk. He had followed the general direction of a small spring stream that enters Lake Anjigami near the camp of the hunters. This spring brook heads in a spruce swamp about a mile from the lake. “If he has gone into that swamp it will be very difficult to follow him,” remarked Ganawa, as the hunters started on the trail.It was found that the game had passed along the spruce swamp. At the end of the swamp it had turned leisurely a little more easterly until it came to a high ridge within sight of one of those small lakes which are scattered by the tens of thousands over a region north and south of Lake Superior.On the high ridge the moose had fed on[204]the twigs of young poplar trees, breaking down some of them of the thickness of a man’s wrist. At the north end of the lake it had crossed the outlet and had stopped to feed on some low willows and juneberry bushes. It had not touched pin-cherry and choke-cherry, but it had fed freely on young white birches and on the bushy moose-maple, which never grows to tree size.“How can an animal grow big and fat when it eats nothing but wood?” asked Ray.“The little twigs, my son, which the moose eats are not all wood,” replied Ganawa. “There is much food in them and in the buds. Moose and deer live on browse in the winter, grouse and fool-hens live on buds, rabbits and mice live on bark, and if the squirrels have not enough hazelnuts and seeds they also eat buds.”After they had cautiously followed the trail for about two hours, Ganawa sat down on a log.“My sons,” he said, “take a rest. This track was made last night. In some open[205]spots the wind has filled in the footprints and in some sheltered spots the sun has melted the edges of the snow just a little bit. I fear he is a long way ahead of us, but if it does not begin to snow, we must follow him till we find him; for when the weather gets cold the wolves may drive all the moose out of the country.”During the afternoon, the hunters found several places where the moose had lain down. As the wind had veered toward the north, the game had also turned north. “He smells danger ahead of him,” Ganawa told the boys, “and he listens for danger behind him. He has not been scared and does not know that hunters are following him.”About an hour before sunset, the hunters made camp in a sheltered hollow near a small stream, and built a fire on the leeward side of a big log.“We may build a fire,” said Ganawa, “but we must not use our axes. If the moose hears the sound of an ax, he will get up and run a league.”[206]After the hunters had eaten their meat and drunk some hot broth, they scraped away the snow from the ground and made a bed of spruce and balsam boughs. Bruce and Ganawa gathered some more dead wood for the fire, but Ray was so tired that he wrapped himself in his blankets, and very soon he fell asleep with Tawny curled up at his feet.For some time Bruce and Ganawa tended the fire in silence, for the ever-changing flames of a camp-fire seem to incite the imagination to recall the past and to peer behind the veil of the future. During the night Bruce and Ganawa took turns replenishing the fire, for no camp-fire can be built in such a way that it will keep a man warm all night without being replenished several times. This is especially true if dry and dead wood has to be used. But even under the most favorable circumstances, when the camper has cut stout back-logs or can use rocks as a back-wall and can use green birch, hickory, ash, or hard maple as fuel, he will have to[207]get up once or twice, for even the green woods mentioned burn fast with the free access of air.The night was not cold, as winter nights go, and when, after a hearty breakfast of toasted meat, boiled meat and hot broth, the hunters again took up the trail, each of them felt fit to follow the trail all day.It was just light enough to see the tracks when they started, and Ganawa cautioned the lads to avoid all noise. “Be very careful not to break any sticks, and you must not talk. It may be,” he explained, “that the moose is leagues ahead of us, but we cannot tell; he may not be far away. You, my sons, should walk about fifty paces behind me, and you must be sure not to let Ohnemoosh break away when I see the moose.”They had travelled about a mile when the lads were made to realize that their guide had not needlessly cautioned them against making noise. He now halted suddenly and motioned the lads not to come nearer. Then he peered carefully through some bushes just[208]ahead, but presently motioned to the lads to come up to him.“Look!” he said, pointing to the bed of a moose. “It is almost warm yet. I think we scared him.” The tracks showed plainly that the moose had stood for a moment facing his back trail. Then he had turned around short and trotted off in a northwesterly direction against the wind, for during the last twenty-four hours the wind had swung around from northeast to northwest.“We must wait here,” Ganawa advised, “so he will get over being scared.” And as the hunters stood and looked around, they saw that the evening before the moose had fed freely on poplar and birch brush close by, and had then selected a well-sheltered bed behind a thicket of spruce, where he had been apparently lying down all night.After an hour’s rest, the hunters again took up the trail, and they found that the moose had soon slowed down to a walk.Early in the afternoon the moose suddenly appeared in plain view, as the hunters peered[209]over a ridge. There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows. By crawling a few rods westward behind the ridge, Ganawa approached within thirty yards and brought down his game with one carefully aimed shot. Ganawa carried an old Hudson Bay smooth-bore gun, and he seldom fired at moose or deer at a longer range.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.Lead and powder were so very expensive to the old-time Indians that they could not afford the wild shooting of many present-day white hunters, but were compelled to stalk their game until they had approached within close range.The hunters set to work at once to dress their game, but the afternoon was well advanced when the meat was cut up and hung up in trees out of reach of the wolves. Certain choice parts they had laid aside for a big hunters’ feast: The tongue, a piece of the stomach which makes excellent tripe, the kidneys, a piece of liver and some choice fat steak and a piece of suet. The hunters had[210]walked some ten miles; they had not eaten fresh moose meat for weeks and they felt ravenously hungry.In a very short time there would be meat broiled, meat fried, and meat boiled, and they would have a feast such as only hungry hunters and explorers ever enjoy.So busy had the boys been cutting out the meat and hanging it up in trees that they had not noticed a change in the weather. And now a great disappointment was in store for them. Ganawa climbed up on a big rock and pointed toward the northwest. “Look, my sons,” he said earnestly. “Do you see the black clouds? They will bring snow and a big, cold wind; and very soon it will be dark. Take up the meat for our feast and follow me. We must walk fast to find a good shelter, or we shall freeze to death. This ridge and the small bushes will give us no shelter in a storm and no wood for our fire.”[211]
One morning, when the lads awoke at day-break, Ganawa was gone. The lads arose, started the fire in the tepee and boiled some fresh beaver meat. The night had been quite cold and some hot broth seemed good for breakfast.
The boys had guessed right that Ganawa had gone scouting for moose tracks, and in a short time he returned to tell the boys that during the night a young moose had crossed the lake near their camp and had travelled east against the wind.
“We must eat,” he said, “and then we must follow the moose. We must wear our warm winter moccasins and we must take our blankets, for no hunter can tell how far he may have to track a moose.”
It took some time before the hunters were ready to take the trail. “The moose may be[203]a long way ahead of us,” Ganawa told the lads, “because I cannot tell at what time of the night he passed our camp. We must follow him slowly and you, my sons, and the dog must travel a good way behind me so we do not scare him. If we scare him, he will start running and we shall lose him.”
The animal had been going at a walk. He had followed the general direction of a small spring stream that enters Lake Anjigami near the camp of the hunters. This spring brook heads in a spruce swamp about a mile from the lake. “If he has gone into that swamp it will be very difficult to follow him,” remarked Ganawa, as the hunters started on the trail.
It was found that the game had passed along the spruce swamp. At the end of the swamp it had turned leisurely a little more easterly until it came to a high ridge within sight of one of those small lakes which are scattered by the tens of thousands over a region north and south of Lake Superior.
On the high ridge the moose had fed on[204]the twigs of young poplar trees, breaking down some of them of the thickness of a man’s wrist. At the north end of the lake it had crossed the outlet and had stopped to feed on some low willows and juneberry bushes. It had not touched pin-cherry and choke-cherry, but it had fed freely on young white birches and on the bushy moose-maple, which never grows to tree size.
“How can an animal grow big and fat when it eats nothing but wood?” asked Ray.
“The little twigs, my son, which the moose eats are not all wood,” replied Ganawa. “There is much food in them and in the buds. Moose and deer live on browse in the winter, grouse and fool-hens live on buds, rabbits and mice live on bark, and if the squirrels have not enough hazelnuts and seeds they also eat buds.”
After they had cautiously followed the trail for about two hours, Ganawa sat down on a log.
“My sons,” he said, “take a rest. This track was made last night. In some open[205]spots the wind has filled in the footprints and in some sheltered spots the sun has melted the edges of the snow just a little bit. I fear he is a long way ahead of us, but if it does not begin to snow, we must follow him till we find him; for when the weather gets cold the wolves may drive all the moose out of the country.”
During the afternoon, the hunters found several places where the moose had lain down. As the wind had veered toward the north, the game had also turned north. “He smells danger ahead of him,” Ganawa told the boys, “and he listens for danger behind him. He has not been scared and does not know that hunters are following him.”
About an hour before sunset, the hunters made camp in a sheltered hollow near a small stream, and built a fire on the leeward side of a big log.
“We may build a fire,” said Ganawa, “but we must not use our axes. If the moose hears the sound of an ax, he will get up and run a league.”[206]
After the hunters had eaten their meat and drunk some hot broth, they scraped away the snow from the ground and made a bed of spruce and balsam boughs. Bruce and Ganawa gathered some more dead wood for the fire, but Ray was so tired that he wrapped himself in his blankets, and very soon he fell asleep with Tawny curled up at his feet.
For some time Bruce and Ganawa tended the fire in silence, for the ever-changing flames of a camp-fire seem to incite the imagination to recall the past and to peer behind the veil of the future. During the night Bruce and Ganawa took turns replenishing the fire, for no camp-fire can be built in such a way that it will keep a man warm all night without being replenished several times. This is especially true if dry and dead wood has to be used. But even under the most favorable circumstances, when the camper has cut stout back-logs or can use rocks as a back-wall and can use green birch, hickory, ash, or hard maple as fuel, he will have to[207]get up once or twice, for even the green woods mentioned burn fast with the free access of air.
The night was not cold, as winter nights go, and when, after a hearty breakfast of toasted meat, boiled meat and hot broth, the hunters again took up the trail, each of them felt fit to follow the trail all day.
It was just light enough to see the tracks when they started, and Ganawa cautioned the lads to avoid all noise. “Be very careful not to break any sticks, and you must not talk. It may be,” he explained, “that the moose is leagues ahead of us, but we cannot tell; he may not be far away. You, my sons, should walk about fifty paces behind me, and you must be sure not to let Ohnemoosh break away when I see the moose.”
They had travelled about a mile when the lads were made to realize that their guide had not needlessly cautioned them against making noise. He now halted suddenly and motioned the lads not to come nearer. Then he peered carefully through some bushes just[208]ahead, but presently motioned to the lads to come up to him.
“Look!” he said, pointing to the bed of a moose. “It is almost warm yet. I think we scared him.” The tracks showed plainly that the moose had stood for a moment facing his back trail. Then he had turned around short and trotted off in a northwesterly direction against the wind, for during the last twenty-four hours the wind had swung around from northeast to northwest.
“We must wait here,” Ganawa advised, “so he will get over being scared.” And as the hunters stood and looked around, they saw that the evening before the moose had fed freely on poplar and birch brush close by, and had then selected a well-sheltered bed behind a thicket of spruce, where he had been apparently lying down all night.
After an hour’s rest, the hunters again took up the trail, and they found that the moose had soon slowed down to a walk.
Early in the afternoon the moose suddenly appeared in plain view, as the hunters peered[209]over a ridge. There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows. By crawling a few rods westward behind the ridge, Ganawa approached within thirty yards and brought down his game with one carefully aimed shot. Ganawa carried an old Hudson Bay smooth-bore gun, and he seldom fired at moose or deer at a longer range.
There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.
There he stood, a fine young bull moose, feeding on some willows.—Page 209.
Lead and powder were so very expensive to the old-time Indians that they could not afford the wild shooting of many present-day white hunters, but were compelled to stalk their game until they had approached within close range.
The hunters set to work at once to dress their game, but the afternoon was well advanced when the meat was cut up and hung up in trees out of reach of the wolves. Certain choice parts they had laid aside for a big hunters’ feast: The tongue, a piece of the stomach which makes excellent tripe, the kidneys, a piece of liver and some choice fat steak and a piece of suet. The hunters had[210]walked some ten miles; they had not eaten fresh moose meat for weeks and they felt ravenously hungry.
In a very short time there would be meat broiled, meat fried, and meat boiled, and they would have a feast such as only hungry hunters and explorers ever enjoy.
So busy had the boys been cutting out the meat and hanging it up in trees that they had not noticed a change in the weather. And now a great disappointment was in store for them. Ganawa climbed up on a big rock and pointed toward the northwest. “Look, my sons,” he said earnestly. “Do you see the black clouds? They will bring snow and a big, cold wind; and very soon it will be dark. Take up the meat for our feast and follow me. We must walk fast to find a good shelter, or we shall freeze to death. This ridge and the small bushes will give us no shelter in a storm and no wood for our fire.”[211]