“Then,” continued Hiram, “up started the Kernel, and slingin’ his rifle to place he pegged in the lead afore ye could count a brace o’ winks. Did the bull drop?—no—didn’t even give a quiver, for the ball cut wide. Did he turn flanks and tear off—no sir-ee; he waded nearer and nearer to us, till he was only eight rods off at the most. ‘Pepper him agin, Kernel, and fire low,’ I whispered, a-tryin’ to steady the canoe. Then bang! went the Kernel agin, an’ with a thunderin’ snort the bull wheeled ’round, and went smashin’ away through the woods.”
“An’ you missed him clean?” said John.
“No! not the last shot, that hit him somewhere in the neck, for we found his blood on the ground afterwards, but the first ball cut the alders three foot over his head. It was the queerest thing you ever see. Why! I was so sure of him, that I was figurin’ how I was goin’ to get the carcass back to camp, an’ smackin’ my lips over the steaks.”
“Oh! don’t speak of it! don’t speak of it! I shall never have such a chance again as long as I live; no, never! never!” and the Colonel threw himself back on his blankets with a groan.
I smiled for an instant. I could have “Pinafored” him then and there upon the spot. It was a glorious chance, but his gun was standing close beside him and I did not dare.
“But it’s something to have seen one, in his native wilds,” I remarked, trying my best to comfort him; “the animal will soon be extinct in this country.”
It was of no use, and I think that lost opportunity threw a veil of sadness over the Colonel’s mind for the remainder of the tour; at any rate, it was a delicate subject to touch upon afterwards.
“If moose so near,” said Nichols, one day, “me better make horn and call moose to-night; no try, no get him.”
We thought this a good scheme, and with the approval of all the Indian tramped off into the woods, and soon returned with a large piece of birch bark. Shaving the edges with his knife, he warmed it over the fire, and proceeded to roll it up into a great horn two feet in length, tapering it from six inches to one in diameter, and fastening the edges with wooden pegs.
Nichols and I were the only ones who went out on the hunt. Preparing ourselves after the evening repast, we stepped into our canoes at 7.30 o’clock. It was not a remarkably severe night, but as I knew I should be obliged to remain for a long time in almost motionless position, I took precautions to wrap up extremely well, and before I returned, the night chill had penetrated through it all to the very vicinity of my bones.