“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.