The true northerner., 1898-05-25

long. At last one of them. in we'll in.
tended effort to Tighten the mood Of the
hour, said:
"Well, doc. when have you figured
on reaching the limit of your earthly
mission? Try and plan to finish this
hunt with us, for we are bound to strike
moose before we are through"
The doctor had gazed into the Goals
without word since the telling of his
story, but his lips now parted in slow
and melancholy smile as he calmly an
swered
81 fancy, boys, that it will come to-
morrow. So sure am I Of this that i
shall ask you ivsfore We have good
night to join me in what believe will
be our last toast together. 1t will be to
your comfort, friends, il you can dis
miss my statement as but the vagary of
an overtalkative comrade who finds
himself in strange mood tonight, but
we shall see. He continued to murmur
to himself:
"It's pretty world, senior, but not
all has been happiness. l have seen Of
the travail of my soul and am satisfied"
drink boys" he called and as they
gathered around without volition to re-
sist his whim he continued: Drink to
the unsolvable riddle of life; TO the un-
fathomable arbitrament Of fate and to
the oubled sleep which follows all
in Gods good time"
Three glasses were replaced with
brimming edge untouched upon the ta-
BILE, one-the doctor 's-lay shattered on
the hearth. Hurried good nights were
said, and half hour later quiet ruled
the camp. But one unsieeping member
of the party went an hour later to view
the skies and judge of the morrow's
weather And there he found another
sentinel, who growled:
"What id CHASTITY finale for an
evenings good cheer. 1 wish the doctor
had kept his Internal fancies and his un'
canny toast to himself. 4"
The next days hunt promised to be as
empty of results as was its predecessors.
With the dusk three had returned to
camp with royal appetites as the sole
capture of the day, and the guide was
rushing up a supper, encouraged by
running fire of adjuration. AT length
all was ready, and they drew up chairs.
The doctor had not yet shown up, but
he was stayer as a sportsman and al
ways the last man home. They knew he
had gone over to blind which he had
thrown up near promising lick at an
inlet of the lake. He had salted the lick
some days before and had since noted
sure signs of moose. Against the judg-
ment of the guide, who secuted his abil-
| ity to fool moose by blind in the To-
cation which he had chosen, the doctor
| had sworn that if he took one at all he
would take him there, and his patience
and repeated failure was a joke Of the
camp. Probably he had waited until
darkness had fairly shut in before Civ
ing up his vigil and even then was
stumbling homeward through the
gloom.
Still, while the boys variously ac-
counted for his delay, they grew more
and more uneasy, and at length the Ian
terms were lighted and they started in
body for the lick. No man voiced his
thought or his expectation or spoke
word until we reached the blind.
And there we found him, dead and
half crushed under the weight of a
moose of 700 pounds. The signs about
told the story. The tracks were not two
hours old, and showed that the hulking
deer had come to drink and then had
turned to browse along the fringe of
Tapping water. The doctor had taken a
side shot which, i'll the failing and de-
ceptive light, had not been sure, and the
moose had charged him furiously, a sec
ond shot failing to stop him. Beaten
down and scattered was the blind, and
behind it hunter and hunted had fought
out their battle to the death of both. A
broken antler told the fury of the on
slaught and splintered rifle stock the
desperation of the defense. York
Sun.