The instant they touched the dock she was out of the boat and on the dock doing a wild dance. She stopped suddenly right in the midst of this to stare away at the black water.
“Wha-what’s moving over there?” She sank away into the shadows.
For a time Red could discover nothing. Then it seemed to him that he did make out something moving close to the surface of the water.
“It may be a boat. Perhaps we had better—”
“See!” She whispered excitedly. “It is a boat!”
Suddenly a bright light shone across the water. A figure crouching behind the light was faintly seen. He was in the prow of a boat.
But now the thing within that circle of light caught and held their attention. A moose, splendid in his glory of shapely body and wide-spreading antlers, stood at the point of the island. Apparently blinded by the light, he stood there like a statue.
“How perfect!” Red breathed.
“Monarch of the forest!” the girl whispered low.
And then stark tragedy came crashing across the waters. A high-power rifle roared. The moose leaped high and then fell with a splash into the black water. The light blinked out, and again all was night.