He
learned to imitate every sound which the guide made, working in touching
quavers and inflections that must tug at the heart-strings of any
listening moose. He learned to give the call, squatting Indian fashion,
in a very uncomfortable position, behind a screen of bushes. He learned
to copy, not the cow's summons alone, but the bull's short challenge
too; and to rasp his horn against a tree, in imitation of a moose
polishing its antlers for battle.
And now, for the first time, Dol Farrar of Manchester regarded his
education as complete. He was prouder of this forest accomplishment,
picked up in the wilds, than of all triumphs over problems and 'ologies
at his English school. He had not been a laggard in study, either.
But the finishing of Dol's education had one bad result. If there
happened to be another moose travelling through the adjacent forests, he
evidently thought that all this random calling was too much of a good
thing, had his suspicions aroused, and took himself oft to wilder
solitudes. Though the guide tried his powers in persuasive summons every
night at various calling-places, he could not again succeed in getting
an answer.
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