American Big-Game Hunting 
Following it up some two miles, I suddenly 
heard a bull elk call, and fastening my horse, : 
I crept toward the sound. Coming out of ~~ 
some thick woods, I saw across the stream a 
band of seven elk and three or four calves. 
They were feeding away from me, and I de- 
cided that if I crossed the stream and reached 
the top of a little hill before they could walk 
out of the woods and get into the middle of 
an open park, some half-mile across, I might 
be able to get a shot. The stream was quite 
rapid and fairly deep, and while I did not 
care for wet feet, |] hoped to escape a wet 
jacket. However, as I stepped boldly in, the 
current whirled me off my feet, and the water 
opened its gates and let me find a resting- 
place on the slippery, smooth stones of its 
bottom. 
On gaining the opposite bank, I broke into 
a run for my game. Ihave always been a 
fair sprinter, but before I had reached the 
hill, fifty or sixty rods away, I was completely 
pumped, and had to stop. Fortunately I was 
running toward game, rather than being 
chased by a grizzly, for I had shot my bolt. 
The high altitude had put me out of the race. 
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