ound, and
in presence of the game. To his astonishment, the bull was not dead,
nor down neither, but only upon his knees--of course wounded. Basil saw
the "crease" of the bullet along the neck of the animal as he drew near.
It was only by a quick glance that he saw this, for as soon as the bull
saw him he rose to his full height--his eyes flashing like a tiger's--
and setting his antlers in a forward position, sprang upon the hunter!
Basil leaped aside to avoid the encounter; and in the first rush was
successful, but the animal turned suddenly, and, coming up a second
time, raised his fore-feet high in the air, and struck forward with his
long-pointed hoofs. Basil attempted to defend himself with his rifle,
but the piece was struck out of his hand in an instant. Once more
avoiding the forward rush of the infuriated beast, the young hunter
looked around for some object to save him. A tree fell under his eye,
and he ran towards it with all his speed. The moose followed close upon
his heels, and he had just time to reach the tree and get around its
trunk, when the animal brushed past, tearing the bark with his sharp
antlers. Basil now slipped round the trunk, and when the moose again
turned himself the two were on opposite sides of the tree! The beast,
however, rushed up, and struck the tree furiously first with his brow
antlers, and then with his hoofs, uttering loud snorts, and at intervals
a shrill whistling sound that was terrible to hear. The disappointment
which the enraged animal felt, at seeing his enemy thus escape him,
seemed to have added to his rage; and he now vented his spite upon the
tree, until the trunk, to the height of six feet, was completely
stripped of its bark. While this was going on, Basil remained behind
the tree, "dodging" round as the moose manoeuvred, and taking care
always to have the animal on the opposite side. To have got into a
safer situation he would have climbed the tree; but it happened to be a
poplar, without a branch for many feet from the ground, and of too great
a girth to be "embraced." He could do nothing, therefore, but remain
upon the ground, and keep the tree-trunk between himself and the bull.

For nearly an hour this lasted, the moose now remaining at rest for a
few minutes, and then making fresh onsets that seemed to abate nothing
in their fury. His rage appeared to be implacable, and his vengeance as
tenacious as that of a tiger or any other beast of prey. The