"Looks like it," said the Captain, going a notch higher in search of a better seat.
Slim had not climbed a tree. It was too strenuous for him. "Fine chance you"ll have of getting to heaven, if you have to climb, Slim," jeered the Captain, now that he was comfortably settled.
Slim only laughed and sat back comfortably against a stump.
"Sh-h, you two," called out Gladys warningly. "Don"t you see it"s going to begin?"
"What"s going to begin?" asked the Captain, craning his neck downward to watch Uncle Teddy.
Uncle Teddy put the birchbark trumpet to his lips and sent forth a strange call, that sounded like an animal.
"Why are you doing that?" asked Sahwah.
"I"m going to try and make old man moose come to see us," said Uncle Teddy. "It"s lots easier than going to see him. You remember the saying about Mahomet and the mountain? Well, now the mountain is coming to see Mahomet. The sound made by this birchbark trumpet resembles the call of the female moose, and when the male hears it he comes to see what it means. Like his human brothers, Mr. Moose is a dutiful husband and comes when his wife calls him. Everybody sit still now and see if he comes."
Again he sent the call echoing through the woods. The watchers strained ears and eyes, but nothing happened.
A third time he blew on the birchbark trumpet. Then they heard a cracking and crashing among the branches nearby and suddenly a huge creature came trotting up a small path that led into the woods and emerged into the clearing. So sudden was his appearance that it took their breath away and they sat perfectly motionless, marveling at the wide spread of his antlers, his humpy, grotesque nose, and the little bell-like pouch that hung down from his neck. A moment he stood there, wearing a look of inquiry, his big nostrils quivering, and then he became aware of the presence of human beings, and turning in affright he fled up the path by which he had come. But in the moment he had stood there they had been able to get a good look at him.
As soon as he was gone they all sprang to their feet and began excitedly comparing notes on what they had seen.
"Did you ever see such big antlers?" said Sahwah. "So flat and wide. I always thought antlers were like the branches of a tree."
"And the funny hump on his nose," said Hinpoha.
"But did you ever see anything so funny as that thing hanging down from his neck?" said Katherine. "It looked just like a bell."
"Let"s follow him," said Sahwah enthusiastically, "and see if we can catch a glimpse of him again."
For a while they could follow the footprints of the big creature in the soft mud along the river bank; then the tracks ceased abruptly. The moose had turned and dashed into the deep woods.
"Now which way did he go?" asked Sahwah.
"You are asking more than I can tell," answered Uncle Teddy.
"Shall we go any further?" asked Hinpoha doubtfully. "These woods don"t look very easy to walk through."
"Oh, yes, let"s go on," begged Sahwah.
"We might get lost and not find our way back," said Hinpoha.
"We"ll remember this big cedar tree," said Uncle Teddy. "It"s the only one around here and it"s right near the river."
Fixing the location of the big cedar tree in their minds they struck into the woods in the direction they thought the moose had taken.
"It"s queer we don"t hear him," said Sahwah. "You"d think an animal as large as that would make a great noise running through the woods. Just listen to the racket Slim is making over there."
"That"s where the moose has a secret no man can find out," said Uncle Teddy. "Big and awkward as he is, he moves through the forest as silently as a phantom. How he does it no one knows. A horse or a cow, though smaller, would make ten times as much noise."
"Do you suppose we"ll find our way back to the cedar tree?" asked Gladys, beginning to look rather solemn as the trees and bushes closed around them in seemingly endless array.
Uncle Teddy smiled and showed her a small compa.s.s he was holding in his hand. "We have been going straight west so far," he said. "If we turn for any reason we"ll make note of the tree where we turn. It is as easy to find your way through the woods as it is through the city if you will only keep your eyes open for sign posts."
As he was speaking they came upon another cedar tree, as big and as old as the first; the only one they had pa.s.sed since that one. "Now there is a landmark worth noting," said Uncle Teddy, pointing to the tree. "Giant cedar, towering above other trees, only one in sight. Fifteen minutes"
walk due west from the other cedar beside the river. And you see we will have to turn right here because there seems to be a path at right angles to the direction we have been traveling, while it is swampy straight ahead."
He called the rest around him and made them all make a note of the trail they were taking. So they all jotted down, "Due west from cedar by river until you come to another; then turn south."
And right in the path, a few steps ahead, was a soft, muddy place and in it there was a fresh footprint, which was just like those made by the moose on the river bank.
"He _is_ around here!" cried Sahwah excitedly. "Maybe we"ll see him yet if we keep going."
They picked their way carefully, avoiding the swampy ground and pretty soon they came to a third cedar, just as tall as the other two, and also the only one in sight.
"Another guidepost to remember," said Uncle Teddy, and made them jot it down. Just beyond this tree the swamp made them turn to the left.
Several times more they saw the footprint of the moose in the soft mud near the path, but never a glimpse did they get of him.
Some distance ahead stood a fourth big cedar and ten minutes" walk beyond that a fifth.
"It will be as easy to find our way back as if we were walking down a street full of signposts," said Gladys, who had become fascinated with this method of looking for guideposts through the woods. "All we have to do is walk until we come to a cedar tree. It seems almost as if they had been planted that way on purpose. Let"s keep on and see if there are any more."
Sure enough, in about ten minutes they came to another one, and there the trail through the woods ended at the foot of a rocky hill.
"That makes six cedar trees we"ve pa.s.sed," said Gladys, jotting down the fact in her notebook.
"Uncle Teddy, won"t you please call the moose again," pleaded Sahwah.
"Maybe he"d come again."
"I doubt it," said Uncle Teddy. "He found out once that it wasn"t his mate calling him."
"Try it again, anyway," begged Sahwah.
Uncle Teddy sent the call of the birchbark trumpet echoing far and wide, but though they watched in breathless silence, no moose appeared in answer to the call.
"He"s "wise,"" said the Captain. "You can"t blame him. n.o.body could fool me twice either."
"We might as well start back now," said Slim, beginning to think longingly of the supper cached under the first cedar by the river.
"We"ve had our hunt, and seen the moose, which was what we came for.
Aren"t you all satisfied yet?"
"Oh, Slim, are you very hungry?" asked Sahwah. "Katherine and I want to go up the hill a little way and poke into that ravine up there; it"s so dark and mysterious looking."
Slim sighed and looked longingly back toward the trail by which they had come.
"Oh, never mind, we won"t go," said Sahwah, seeing the look.
"Oh, go on," said Slim good naturedly.
Katherine fished in her pocket and drew out a tin foil-covered package.