of feared and hated Man. But
for all their anger they took care not to thrust themselves upon the
attention of the moose. They appreciated too well the fury of her
mother wrath, the swiftness and deadliness of the stroke of her
knife-edged forehooves. They were not going to let their curiosity
obscure their discretion, you may be sure, like some of the childish
deer and antelope often do."

"Why?" interrupted the Child eagerly, being all at once consumingly
anxious to know what the deer and antelope were curious about. But
Uncle Andy paid no attention whatever.

"Then, one morning," he continued, "two other moose cows came along up
the lake shore, followed by their long-legged, shambling youngsters.
They stopped to discuss the condition of lily roots with their tall
sister; but at the sight of her nursing and petting and mothering a
_calf_--a baby of the cattle tribe whom they despised and hated for its
subservience to man and for living tamely behind fences, they became
quite disagreeable. They sniffed loudly and superciliously. The calf,
however, looking very small and neat and bright in her clean coat of
fawn color beside the gaunt, awkward moose babies, was not in the least
afraid of the disagreeable strangers. She pranced up boldly to
investigate them.

"They wouldn't be investigated by the saucy little alien, and in a
moment of folly one of them struck at her. The foster mother had been
watching their attitude with jealous eyes and rising wrath, and now her
wrath exploded. With a hoarse bleat she sprang upon the offender and
sent her sprawling down the bank clean into the water. Then she turned
upon the other. But this one, with quick discretion, was already
trotting off hastily, followed by the two awkward youngsters. The
triumphant foster mother turned to the calf and anxiously smelled it
all over to make sure it had not been hurt. And the rash cow in the
water, boiling with wrath, but afraid to risk a second encounter,
picked herself up from among the lily pads and shambled off after her
retreating party.

"As the summer deepened, however, the calf began to feel and act more
like a moose calf--to go silently and even to absorb some of her foster
mother's smell. The other moose began to get used to her, even quite
to tolerate her; and, the wild creatures generally ceased to regard her
as anything but a very unusual kind of moose. Of course, she _thought_
she _was_ a moose. She grew strong,