INTER-OCEAN HUNTING TALES 



mentary laws which the primitive life 

 develops. The rule that the cache shall 

 remain inviolate is well known. The absence 

 of adequate protection for a cache beyond its 

 secrecy, which is not always sufficient, makes 

 it a point of honor among the rough denizens 

 of the wilderness to respect property so de- 

 posited. In a primitive state of society, when 

 recourse to such means of providing for 

 emergency were more frequent, the frontier 

 man was likely to regard as worthy of death 

 any one who violated this law. 



When I read of the ruthless slaughter 

 which has been wrought among the elk, espe- 

 cially by the detestable tooth-hunter, I recall, 

 with some degree of satisfaction, the for- 

 bearance which I exercised upon various occa- 

 sions. One evening, while returning to camp, 

 I saw in the waning light, about the space of 

 three hundred and fifty yards removed from 

 where I stood, three bull elk standing on the 

 side of a hill, their forms fairly well defined 

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