red a suspicion
that all was not exactly right with the first call, had halted in his
on-coming rush, with head upreared, and nostrils spread, trying to catch
any taint in the air which might warn him of danger. But in the dead
calm the heavy evergreens stirred not; no whiff reached him. The second
call upset his prudence. Then he heard that splash and dribble in the
water, and imagined that his impatient mate was dipping her nose into
the lake for a cool drink.

A snort! A bellowing challenge quite indescribable! On he came again
with a thundering rush!

Bushes were thrashed and spurned by his sharp hoofs. Branches snapped.
Trees echoed as his antlers struck them.

A musk-rat leaped from the bank ahead, and dived to reach his hole in
the bank. Under cover of the noisy splash which the little creature
made, one whisper was hissed by Herb's tongue into the ears of his
comrades. It was:--

"Gee whittaker! he's a big one! Listen to them shovels against the
trees!"

A minute later, with a deep gulp of intense excitement, and a general
racket as if an engine had broken loose from brakes and checks, and was
carrying all before it, the monarch of the woods crashed through the
alders and halted, with his hoofs in the water, scarcely thirty yards
from where the boat lay in shadow.

This was a supreme moment for our travellers. Leaning forward, fearful
lest their heart-beats should betray them, they could barely distinguish
the outlines of the moose, as he stood with his enormous nose high in
air, giving vent to deep gulps and grunts, and looking to right and left
in bewilderment for that cow which he had heard calling.

For fully five minutes he stood thus, badly puzzled, now and again
stamping a hoof, and scattering spray in rising wrath. Then Herb bent
forward, shot out a long arm, and silently opened the jack.

Meteor-like its silver light flashed forth, to reveal a sight which
could never be wiped from the memories of the beholders, though it
affected each of them differently.

Herb Heal involuntarily gripped the loaded rifle which lay beside
him,--he was too wary a woodsman to be unprepared for emergencies; but
he did not cock it, for he remembered the law, and the bargain which he
had made about to-night.

Cyrus's eyes gleamed like fires in a face pale from eagerness, as he
strove in a minute of time to take in every feature of the monster
before him, from hoof to horn.

Neal sat as if paralyzed.

Dol--wel