he wind was blowing softly into
their faces, covering their scent; and their dull gray homespun
clothes fitted the colour of the desolation around them.

Now it chanced that the big bull had changed his mind, and wandered
back among the rampikes, leaving the cow and calf at their browsing
among the poplars. The woodsmen, therefore, came upon him unexpectedly.
Not thirty yards distant, he stood eying them with disdainful
curiosity, his splendid antlers laid back while he thrust forward his
big, sensitive nose, trying to get the wind of these mysterious
strangers. There was menace in his small, watchful eyes, and
altogether his appearance was so formidable that the hunters were
just a trifle flurried, and fired too hastily. The big bullet of
Lije's Snider went wide, while a couple of Sandy's buckshot did no
more than furrow the great beast's shoulder. The sudden pain and the
sudden monstrous noise filled him with rage, and, with an ugly
grunting roar, he charged.

"Up a tree, Sandy!" yelled Lije, setting the example. But the bull was
so close at his heels that he could not carry his rifle with him. He
dropped it at the foot of the tree, and swung himself up into the dead
branches just in time to escape the animal's rearing plunge.

Sandy, meanwhile, had found himself in serious plight, there being no
suitable refuge just at hand. Those trees which were big enough had
had no branches spared by the fire. He had to run some distance. Just
as he was hesitating as to what he should do, and looking for a rock
or stump behind which he might hide while he reloaded his gun, the
moose caught sight of him, forgot about Lije, and came charging
through the weeds. Sandy had no more time for hesitation. He dropped
his unwieldy musket, and clambered into a blackened and branchy
hackmatack, so small that he feared the rush of the bull might break
it down. It did, indeed, crack ominously when the headlong bulk
reared upon it; but it stood. And Sandy felt as if every branch he
grasped were an eggshell.

Seeing that the bull's attention was so well occupied, Lije slipped
down the further side of his tree and recaptured his Snider. He had by
this time entirely recovered his nerve, and now felt master of the
situation. Having slipped in a new cartridge he stood forth boldly and
waited for the moose to offer him a fair target. As the animal moved
this way and that, he at length presented his flank. The big Snider
roared; and he dropped wit