rich. For no one who could not pay right
handsomely for the chance might hope to be guided to the range where
such an unequalled trophy was to be won. But when the matter, in all
its authenticated details, came to the ears of Uncle Adam, dean of the
guides of that region, he said "_No_" with an emphasis that left no
room for argument. There should be no hunting around the slopes of
Saugamauk for several seasons. If the great bull was the terror they
made him out to be, then he had driven all the other bulls from his
range, and there was nothing to be hunted but his royal self. "Well,"
decreed the far-seeing old guide, "we'll let him be for a bit, till
his youngsters begin to grow up like him. Then there'll be no heads in
all the rest of New Brunswick like them that comes from Old
Saugamauk." This decree was accepted, the New Brunswick guides being
among those who are wise enough to cherish the golden-egged goose.

In the course of that season the giant moose was seen several times by
guides and woodsmen--but usually from a distance, as the inconsiderate
impetuosity of his temper was not favorable to close or calm
observation. The only people who really knew him were those who, like
Charley Crimmins, had looked down upon his grunting wrath from the
branches of a substantial tree.

Upon certain important details, however, all observers agreed. The
stranger (for it was held that, driven by some southward wandering
instinct, he had come down from the wild solitudes of the Gaspe
Peninsula) was reckoned to be a good eight inches taller at the
shoulders than any other moose of New Brunswick record, and several
hundredweight heavier. His antlers, whose symmetry and palmation
seemed perfect, were estimated to have a spread of sixty inches at
least. That was the conservative estimate of Uncle Adam, who had made
his observations with remarkable composure from a tree somewhat less
lofty and sturdy than he would have chosen had he had the time for
choice.

In color the giant was so dark that his back and flanks looked black
except in the strongest sunlight. His mighty head, with long, deeply
overhanging muzzle, was of a rich brown; while the under parts of his
body, and the inner surfaces of his long, straight legs, were of a
rusty fawn color. His "bell"--as the shaggy appendix that hangs from
the neck of a bull moose, a little below the throat, is called--was of
unusual development, and the coarse hair adorning it peculiarly
g