Big Game in the Rockies 



much disappointed to find that if I was to get 

 a shot it would have to be in the dark; so as 

 soon as I found I could not see to shoot with 

 any degree of safety, I got up in a pine-tree 

 that commanded the road and was just over 

 the bait. It was weary work watching, and 

 to make it still more uncomfortable, a heavy 

 thunder-storm swept by, first pelting one with 

 hail, then with a deluge of rain and snow. 



It was pitch-dark, except when the black 

 recesses of the forest seemed to be rent asun- 

 der during the vivid lightning. The whole 

 effect was weird and uncanny, and I wished 

 myself back under my soft, warm blankets. 

 I could not well repress thinking of the early 

 admonition of ''Never go under a tree during 

 a thunder-storm." — But what 's that? One 

 swift surge of blood to the heart, an involun- 

 tary tightening of the muscles that strongly 

 gripped the rifle. I seemed to feel, rather 

 than see, the presence of three strange ob- 

 jects that appeared to have sprung from the 

 ground under me. 



I had not heard a sound; not a twig had 

 snapped, and yet, as I strained my eyes to 

 penetrate the gloom, there, right at my feet, 

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