ombatants, illustrating Byron's lines:--

"Friends meet to part;
Love laughs at faith:
True foes once met,
Are joined till death."

Captain Hardy says he has twice heard the strange sound emitted by the
moose, which, till he became acquainted with its origin, was almost
appalling. It is a deep, hoarse, and prolonged bellow, more resembling
a feline than a bovine roar. Sometimes the ear of the hunter is
assailed by a tremendous clatter from some distant swamp or burned wood.
It is the moose, defiantly sweeping the forest of pines right and left
among the brittle branches of the ram pikes, as the scaled pines
hardened by fire are locally termed. When, however, the moose wishes to
beat a retreat in silence, his suspicions being aroused, he effects the
process with marvellous stealth. Not a branch is heard to snap, and the
horns are so carefully carried through the densest thickets, that a
rabbit would make as much noise when alarmed. He will also, when
hard-pressed, take the most desperate leaps to avoid his foes.

Though he seldom or never attacks human beings when unassailed, he will
do so occasionally when badly wounded, if nearly approached. An old
Indian hunter had one day followed up a moose, and wounded the animal,
when it turned on him. There being no tree near, he jammed himself for
safety between two large granite boulders which were at hand. The
aperture, however, did not extend far enough back to enable him to get
altogether out of the reach of the infuriated bull, which set on him
with its fore-feet, and pounded him so severely that several of his ribs
were broken; indeed, for several years afterwards he was nearly bent
double by the severe beating he had received.

In the summer, when the plague of flies commences, the moose takes to
the water to avoid their bites. There are several species--one termed
the moose-fly--which are equally annoying to the hunter. The animal
strives to free himself from their irritation by running among bushes
and brambles; and should he reach a lake, he will plunge into the water,
allowing only his nostrils and mouth to remain above the surface.
Sometimes, indeed, he will dive altogether, and is frequently known to
hide himself from his pursuers by remaining for a long time below the
water. He also feeds upon the tendrils and shoots of the yellow
pond-lily, by reaching for them under water. An Indian, on one
occasion, was following the track of a moose, wh