ssion.

As my canoe shot up to the two moose they did exactly what I had
expected; the mother bolted for the woods in mighty, floundering jumps,
mud and water flying merrily about her; while the calf darted along the
shore, got caught in the lily pads, and with a despairing bleat settled
down in the mud of a soft place, up to his back, and turned his head to
see what I was.

I ran my canoe ashore and approached the little fellow quietly, without
hurry or excitement. Nose, eyes, and ears questioned me; and his fear
gradually changed to curiosity as he saw how harmless a thing had
frightened him. He even tried to pull his awkward little legs out of the
mud in my direction. Meanwhile the big mother moose was thrashing around
in the bushes in a terrible swither, calling her calf to come.

I had almost reached the little fellow when the wind brought him the
strong scent that he had learned in the woods a few days before, and he
bleated sharply. There was an answering crash of brush, a pounding of
hoofs that told one unmistakably to look out for his rear, and out of
the bushes burst the mother, her eyes red as a wild pig's, and the long
hair standing straight up along her back in a terrifying bristle. "Stand
not upon the order of your mogging, but mog at once--_eeeunh! unh!_" she
grunted; and I turned otter instantly and took to the lake, diving as
soon as the depth allowed and swimming under water to escape the old
fury's attention. There was little need of fine tactics, however, as I
found out when my head appeared again cautiously. Anything in the way of
an unceremonious retreat of the enemy satisfied her as perfectly as if
she had been a Boer general. She went straight to her calf, thrust her
great head under his belly, hiked him roughly out of the mud, and then
butted him ahead of her into the bushes.

It was stern, rough discipline; but the youngster needed it to teach him
the wisdom of the woods. From a distance I watched the quivering line of
brush tops that marked their course, and then followed softly. When I
found them again, in the twilight of the great spruces, the mother was
licking the sides of her calf, lest he should grow cold too suddenly
after his unwonted bath. All the fury and harshness were gone. Her great
head lowered tenderly over the foolish, ungainly youngster, tonguing
him, caressing him, drying and warming his poor sides, telling him in
mother language that it was all right now, and that next ti