At the same instant, the other, a
young one, but as tall as a horse, leaped out into the stream, in full
sight, and there stood cowering for a moment, or rather its
disproportionate lowness behind gave it that appearance, and uttering two
or three trumpeting squeaks. I have an indistinct recollection of seeing
the old one pause an instant on the top of the bank in the woods, look
toward its shivering young, and then dash away again. The second barrel
was levelled at the calf, and when we expected to see it drop in the
water, after a little hesitation, it, too, got out of the water, and
dashed up the hill, though in a somewhat different direction. All this was
the work of a few seconds, and our hunter, having never seen a moose
before, did not know but they were deer, for they stood partly in the
water, nor whether he had fired at the same one twice or not. From the
style in which they went off, and the fact that he was not used to
standing up and firing from a canoe, I judged that we should not see
anything more of them. The Indian said that they were a cow and her calf,
--a yearling, or perhaps two years old, for they accompany their dams so
long; but, for my part, I had not noticed much difference in their size.
It was but two or three rods across the meadow to the foot of the bank,
which, like all the world thereabouts, was densely wooded; but I was
surprised to notice, that, as soon as the moose had passed behind the veil
of the woods, there was no sound of foot-steps to be heard from the soft,
damp moss which carpets that forest, and long before we landed, perfect
silence reigned.
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