INTER-OCEAN HUNTING TALES 



directly up the steep side of a mountain. 

 This I climbed for about six hundred feet 

 with some trouble, when I noticed that the 

 tracks had begun to turn and tended down- 

 ward. I continued to follow them until they 

 brought me again to the foot of the moun- 

 tain, within about thirty feet of the point 

 where I first started to trace them up. I 

 finally ran across my guide again, and it was 

 not long before his keen eyes picked out an 

 elk at a distance of about two hundred and 

 fifty yards, just visible among some spruce 

 trees. It was a cow elk, and I was indis- 

 posed to shoot it, but being reminded of the 

 condition of the larder I concluded to try my 

 luck. The crack of the rifle was followed 

 by the disappearance of the animal in the 

 timber, and I thought I had missed, but was 

 reassured to the contrary, and when I reached 

 the spot where the elk had stood I saw a few 

 traces of blood, which shortly led to a brown 

 form lying among the green spruce trees 

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