TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 279 



ping and sliding along until we came to where the mountain 

 suddenly gave way to the valley below. Amost formidable 

 hill raised prominently on the other side, and the trail was 

 so difficult that sometimes we were scarcely able to follow 

 it at all. At last we came to an opening in the timber, and I 

 told Cal I would make a small circuit, with the understanding 

 that neither of us was to shoot till the other appeared. 



I had reached a point from whence I could see the other 

 mountain side covered with burnt timber, and was watching 

 closely for elk, when Cal's rifle broke the stillness. I looked 

 in his direction and could see one black-tail struggling in 

 death's embrace and another thundering down through the 

 burnt timber. I quickly threw my Bullard to my face and 

 fired, breaking the deer's neck. When we had the two elks 

 dressed and hung up, we saw that the others had taken flight 

 at the shot and had darted back on their tracks. This gave 

 us a straight run of ten miles and on our way we often found 

 where they had rested on the north hillside in the snow. The 

 day was warm, and we pressed them as fast as we could until 

 we came to the east fork of Ten Sleep. Here they wandered 

 around and made several attempts to cross. Finally they 

 broke the ice higher up, crossed and started for a high moun- 

 tain. 



We sat down and ate the two biscuits which, with the 

 greater part of a blue grouse, I had crowded into my pockets 

 as we left camp. I sat down on the bank of the creek, pro- 

 duced my eatables, and I don't believe two hunters ever en- 

 joyed a lunch more than we did this. By this time I was so 

 exhausted that I began to feel as though I should fall by the 

 side of the trail, but the hope that we would soon overtake 

 the elks kept me stimulated to travel. We crossed a deep 

 gorge, and started up a long mountain side, where the forest 

 fires of last year had destroyed all of the beautiful green 



