I remarked.

"Guess again," said Willis, "But keep still. Step in my tracks and don't
make the brush crack."

The small growth was so thick that we could see only a little way ahead.
Willis pushed slowly through it for some time; then, stopping short, he
motioned to me over his shoulder to come forward. Not twenty yards away
I distinguished the red-and-white hair of a large animal that was
browsing on a clump of bushes. It stood in a pathway trodden so deep
into the snow that its legs were completely hidden. In surprise I saw
that it had broad horns.

"Why, that's an ox!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," said Willis, laughing. "His mate is round here, too."

"Willis," I almost shouted, "they must be the oxen Jotham lost two years
ago!"

"Sure!" said Willis. "But don't make such a noise. There are moose
here."

"Moose!" I whispered.

"There's a cow moose with two moose calves. When I was here last
Thursday afternoon there were three deer with them. The snow's got so
deep they are yarding here together. They get water at the brook, and I
saw where they had dug down through the snow to get to the dry swamp
grass underneath. They won't leave their yard if we don't scare them;
they couldn't run in the deep snow."

We thought that probably the oxen had grown wild from being off in the
woods so long. However, Willis advanced slowly, calling, "Co-boss!"
Seeing us coming and hearing human voices, the old ox lifted his muzzle
toward us and snuffed genially. He did not appear to be afraid, but
behaved as if he were glad to see us. The other one--old Broad--had been
lying down near by out of sight in the deep pathway, but now he suddenly
rose and stood staring at us. We approached to within ten feet of them.
They appeared to be in fairly good flesh, and their hair seemed very
thick. Evidently they had wandered off from the logging camp and had
been living a free, wild life ever since. In the small open meadows
along the upper course of the stream there was plenty of wild grass.
And, like deer, cattle will subsist in winter on the twigs of freshly
grown bushes. Even such food as that, with freedom, was better than the
cruel servitude of Jotham!

On going round to the far side of the yard we spied the three deer, the
cow moose and her two yearling calves. They appeared unwilling to run
away in the deep snow, but would not let us approach near enough to see
them clearly through the bushes.

"You could shoot one of those deer," I s