So he harnessed the dogs tandem to one of the empty toboggans, strapped on his snow-shoes, and started out following Martin’s trail of the day before. At first he took the lead, running at top speed; but presently he found that, since the trail had been broken out by Martin, he could make better time by letting the dogs haul him on the toboggan. His weight was so much less than the load they were accustomed to haul that now they ran along the trail at high speed, following Martin’s tracks without any guiding instructions.
For two hours they went forward, Kim leading, his nose close to the snow, and both dogs keenly alert. The tracks wound in and out among the thickets, indicating where Martin had explored likely looking places for game, but their general direction was toward the southwest, the course the old hunter had said he should take. Once the snow-shoe trail had followed the track of a deer for half a mile; but evidently the animal was not overtaken, for presently they found where Martin turned off into his original course again.
By noon the dogs had begun to slacken their pace a little, and Larry, thoroughly discouraged, had decided that he would retrace his course, when they reached the crest of a low hill a short distance ahead, which seemed to command a view of the country for some distance around. If nothing could be seen of Martin from this hill, he would face about and return to camp; and more than likely he should find the old man there waiting for him. Hardly had he reached this decision, however, when Kim stopped so suddenly that Jack and the toboggan bumped into him, and stood with bristling hair and stiffened muscles for a moment, and then made a frantic leap forward, snarling and barking.
At the same time Jack seemed to have discovered the cause of his mate’s excitement, and it was only by twisting the sled rope about a sapling that Larry prevented them from dashing madly off into the woods. Yet he was unable to discover the cause of their actions, although he peered intently through the trees in all directions. But whatever the cause, he knew that they had scented something quite out of the ordinary; and as a precaution he drew the little rifle from its case and made sure that the firing-pin was set for the heavy cartridge.
Then he took a firm grip on Kim’s collar, putting all his weight against the dog’s strength, and advanced cautiously through the trees toward the top of the hill.
The crest of this hill had been cleared of large timber years before by a forest fire, and there was an open space for several hundred yards beyond. When Larry reached this cleared space he saw a sight that made his heart leap into his throat and his hair seem to lift his cap. His hand trembled so violently that he came near dropping his rifle, and his breathing ceased altogether for a moment.
For at the opposite side of the clearing stood a huge animal, tall and gaunt, its thick neck supporting a head like a great black barrel crowned with a pair of thickly pointed horns that seemed as long as the toboggan from tip to tip. The great creature stood facing him, the long, coarse hair about its head and neck standing out straight, its fore legs wide apart, its hind legs slightly bent ready for a spring forward. All about it for a space of several yards the snow was trampled into a hard bed and blotched with blood.
In the center of this trampled space was a huge boulder, and just beside it a sapling perhaps six inches in diameter. Perched on the top of the boulder and only a few inches out of reach of the great antlers, old Martin lay huddled. Or, to be more exact, what appeared to be a bundle of Martin’s clothes that looked as if they might have been hurled there by the infuriated animal. The mystery of the old man’s failure to return to camp was explained.
At the sight of the huge animal so close at hand the dogs became absolutely frantic; and knowing that it would be folly to try to control them further, and wishing to give them every possible advantage in the fight that was now inevitable, the boy slipped the harness from each.
As the dogs bounded toward the wounded animal, the moose sprang forward to meet them, snorting fiercely; but in doing this the heavy creature put itself at once at a disadvantage. For its hoofs broke through the crust at every step, while the dogs kept their footing on the surface, darting in and out, snapping fiercely at legs and flank.