by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
ENCOUNTER WITH A MOOSE.
What was a rare thing for Basil to do, he rushed forward withoutreloading his gun. A few springs brought him into the open ground, andin presence of the game. To his astonishment, the bull was not dead,nor down neither, but only upon his knees--of course wounded. Basil sawthe "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 bullsaw 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 wassuccessful, but the animal turned suddenly, and, coming up a secondtime, raised his fore-feet high in the air, and struck forward with hislong-pointed hoofs. Basil attempted to defend himself with his rifle,but the piece was struck out of his hand in an instant. Once moreavoiding the forward rush of the infuriated beast, the young hunterlooked 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 uponhis heels, and he had just time to reach the tree and get around itstrunk, when the animal brushed past, tearing the bark with his sharpantlers. Basil now slipped round the trunk, and when the moose againturned himself the two were on opposite sides of the tree! The beast,however, rushed up, and struck the tree furiously first with his browantlers, and then with his hoofs, uttering loud snorts, and at intervalsa shrill whistling sound that was terrible to hear. The disappointmentwhich 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 thetree, until the trunk, to the height of six feet, was completelystripped of its bark. While this was going on, Basil remained behindthe tree, "dodging" round as the moose manoeuvred, and taking carealways to have the animal on the opposite side. To have got into asafer situation he would have climbed the tree; but it happened to be apoplar, without a branch for many feet from the ground, and of too greata girth to be "embraced." He could do nothing, therefore, but remainupon 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 afew minutes, and then making fresh onsets that seemed to abate nothingin their fury. His rage appeared to be implacable, and his vengeance astenacious as that of a tiger or any other beast of prey. The woundwhich the hunter had given him was no doubt painful, and kept hisresentment from cooling. Unfortunately, it was not a mortal wound, asBasil had every opportunity of seeing. The bullet had hit thefore-shoulder; but, after tearing along the skin, had glanced offwithout injuring the bone. It had only enraged the bull, withoutcrippling him in the least degree. Basil began to dread the result. Hewas becoming faint with fatigue as well as hunger. When would he berelieved? When would the fierce brute feel inclined to leave him?These were questions which the hunter put to himself repeatedly, withoutbeing able to divine an answer. He had heard of hunters being killed bywounded moose. He had heard that these creatures will remain for dayswatching a person whom they may have "treed." He could not stand it fordays. He would drop down with fatigue, and then the bull would gore andtrample him at pleasure. Would they be able to trace him from the camp?They would not think of that before nightfall. They would not think ofhim as "lost" before that time; and then they could not follow his trailin the darkness, nor even in the light--for the ground was hard as arock, and he had made no footmarks. Marengo might trace him. The doghad been left at the camp, as Basil preferred "still-hunting" withouthim. But in his present situation the hunter's apprehensions werestronger than his hopes. Even Marengo might be baffled in lifting thescent. The trail was an exceedingly devious one, for Basil hadmeandered round the sides of the hill in search of game. Deer or otheranimals might have since crossed it, which might mislead the hound. Itwould be cold at night, and much colder next morning. There were manychances that no relief might reach him from the camp. Impressed withthis conviction, Basil began to feel serious alarm. Not despair,however--he was not the boy to despair. His mind only grew more aliveto the necessity for action. He looked around to discover some means ofescape. His gun lay not a hundred yards off. Could he only get hold ofthe piece, and return safely to the tree again, he could there load itand put at end to the scene at once. But to reach the gun wasimpossible. The moose would bound after and overtake him to acertainty. The idea of getting the gun was abandoned.
In the opposite direction to that in which the gun lay, Basil perceivedthat there were other trees. The nearest was but a dozen yards fromhim; and others, again, grew at about the same distance from that one,and from each other. Basil now conceived the idea of escaping to thenearest, and from that to the next, and by this means getting back intothe thick forest. Once there, he believed that he would be the betterable to effect his escape, and perhaps reach the camp by dodging fromtree to tree. He could beat the moose for a dozen yards--getting alittle the start of him--and this he hoped to be able to do. Should hefail in his short race, however--should his foot slip--the alternativewas fearful. _It was no other than death_!
He knew that, but it did not change his resolution to make the attempt.He only waited for the animal to work round between him and the treetowards which he intended to run. You will wonder that he did notprefer to have the moose on the other side. But he did not, for thisreason--had the bull been there, he could have sprung after him at thefirst start; whereas, when heading the other way, Basil believed hecould brush close past, and gain an advantage, as the unwieldy brute,taken by surprise, would require some time in turning himself to givechase.
The opportunity at length arrived; and nerving himself for the race, thehunter sprang past the moose, brushing the very tips of its antlers. Heran without either stopping or even looking back, until he had reachedthe tree, and sheltered himself behind its trunk. The moose hadfollowed, and arrived but the moment after, snorting and whistlingfuriously. Enraged at the _ruse_, it attacked this tree, as it had theother, with hoof and horns; and Basil nimbly evaded both by keeping onthe opposite side, as before.
In a few minutes he prepared himself for a second rush, and once morestarted. A third tree was reached in safety--and then a fourth, and afifth, and many others, in a similar manner--the moose all the whilefollowing in hot pursuit. Basil had begun to hope that in this way hewould get off, when, to his chagrin, he saw that an open space stillintervened between him and the thick woods, upon which there were only afew trees, and those so small that not one of them would have shelteredhim. This tract was full two hundred yards in width, and extended allalong the edge of the thick forest. He dared not cross it. The moosewould overtake him before he could get half the way; and he was obligedto give up the idea of making the attempt.
As he stood behind the last tree he had reached, he saw that itbranched, and the lowest branches grew but a little above his head. Hecould easily climb it, and at once resolved to do so. He would there besafe for the time, and could at least rest himself, for he was now weakwith fatigue. He, therefore, stretched up his hands, and, laying holdof a branch, swung himself up into the tree. Then climbing up a littlehigher, he sat down on one of the forks.
The moose appeared as furious as ever; and ran round the tree, nowstriking it with his horns, and then rearing upon his hind-legs, andpouncing against the trunk with his hoofs. At times his snout was soclose to Basil, that the latter could almost touch it; and he had evendrawn his hunting-knife, and reached down with the intent of giving thecreature a stab.
This last action led to a train of thought, and Basil seemed suddenly toadopt some new resolution. Leaving the fork where he had perchedhimself, he climbed higher up the tree; and, selecting one of thelongest and straightest branches, commenced cutting it off close to thetrunk. This was soon effected; and then, drawing it along his knee, hetrimmed off all the twigs and tops until the branch became a straightpole, like a spear-handle. Along one end of this he laid the handle ofhis k
nife; and with thongs, which he had already cut out of the strap ofhis bullet-pouch, he spliced the knife and pole together. This gave hima formidable weapon--for the knife was a "bowie," and had a long blade,with a point like a rapier. He was not slow in using it. Descendingagain to the lowermost limbs, he commenced making demonstrations, inorder to bring the moose within reach. This he very soon succeeded indoing; and the animal ran forward and reared up against the tree.Before it could get upon its four legs again, Basil had thrust it in theneck, giving full force to the blow. The blood rushed forth in a thickstream, as the jugular vein had been cut by the keen blade; and the hugebrute was seen to totter in its steps, and then fall with a dull heavysound to the earth. In a few moments the hunter had the satisfaction ofperceiving that it was quite dead.
Basil now dropped out of the tree, and walking back to where his riflelay, took up the piece and carefully reloaded it. He then returned tothe moose, and opening the great jaws of the animal, gagged them with astick. He next unspliced his knife, took off the gristly lips, and cutout the tongue. These he placed in his game-bag, and shouldering hisrifle, was about to depart; when some new idea caused him to halt, putdown his gun, and again unsheath his knife. Once more approaching thecarcass, he made an incision near the kidneys; and having inserted hishand, drew forth what appeared to be a part of the intestines. It wasthe bladder. He then looked around as if in search of something.Presently his eye rested upon some tall reed-grass that was growingnear. This was just what he wanted, and, pulling up one of the stems,he cut and fashioned it into a pipe. With this the moose-bladder wasblown out to its full dimensions, and tied at the neck by a piece ofthong. The other end of the thong was fastened to one of the branchesof the tree above, so that the bladder dangled within a few feet of thecarcass of the moose, dancing about with the lightest breath of wind.All these precautions Basil had taken to keep the wolves from devouringthe moose--for it was his intention to return and butcher it, as soon ashe could get help. When he had hung the bladder to his liking, he putup his knife again; and, once more shouldering his rifle, walked off.
On reaching the camp--which he did shortly after--the tongue of themoose was broiled without delay, and, after making a delicious meal ofit, the whole party went off for the remainder of the meat. They foundit all quite safe; although, had it not been for the bladder, not muchof it would have been there--as no less than a dozen great gaunt wolveswere seen lurking about, and these would have eaten it up in theshortest possible time. The bladder, however, had kept them off; for,strange to say, these creatures, who are as cunning as foxes, and canhardly be trapped, can yet be deceived and frightened by such a simplething as a bladder dangling from a branch.
The moose proved to be one of the largest of his kind. His height wasquite equal to that of a horse; and his horns, flattened out to thebreadth of shovels, weighed over sixty pounds. His carcass was not lessthan fifteen hundred pounds weight; and our voyageurs had to make twojourneys to convey the meat to their camp. On the last journey,Francois brought the porcupine as well--having found it on the very sametree where Basil had left it!