That Charlie and
Del were more absorbed in the possibility of getting a sight of these
great, timid, vanishing visions of animal life--and perhaps a longer
view of a little black, bleating calf--than in any exploration for the
other end of the Shelburne River was evident. They clung and hovered
about those islands, poking the canoes into every nook and corner,
speaking in whispers, and sitting up straight at sight of any
dark-looking stump or bunch of leaves. Eddie, too, seemed a good deal
interested in the moose idea. I discovered presently that he was
ambitious to send a specimen of a moose calf, dead or alive, to the
British Museum, and would improve any opportunity to acquire that asset.

I may say that I was opposed to any such purpose. I am overfond of
Eddie, and I wanted him to have a good standing with the museum people,
but I did not like the idea of slaughtering a little calf moose before
its mother's very eyes, and I did not approve of its capture, either.
Even if the mother moose could be convinced that our intentions were
good, and was willing to have her offspring civilized and in the British
Museum, or Zoo, or some other distinguished place, I still opposed the
general scheme. It did not seem to me that a calf moose tied either
outside or inside of our tent for a period of weeks, to bleat and tear
around, and to kick over and muss up things generally, would be a proper
feature to add to a well-ordered camp, especially if it kept on raining
and we had to bring him inside. I knew that eventually he would own that
tent, and probably demand a sleeping bag. I knew that I should have to
give him mine, or at least share it with him.

I stated and emphasized these views and insisted that we go over toward
the half-obscured shore, where there appeared to be an opening which
might be the river. We did go over there, at length, and there was, in
fact, an opening, but it was made by a brook entering the lake instead
of leaving it. Our memorandum of information declared that a stream
called the Susketch emptied into the lake somewhere, and we decided to
identify this as the place. We went up a little way to a good looking
pool, but there were no trout--at least, they refused to rise, though
probably the oldest and mossiest inhabitant of that place had never had
such an opportunity before. Back to the lake again, we were pretty soon
hovering about the enchanted islands, which seemed to rise on every
hand.

It was j