288 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



yards. She reeled to the left and I fired again, a shot which 

 stopped her. My new Bullard hissed a flame of fire, her 

 neck cracked, and she dropped like a stone. Three balls had 

 struck her, two of which would have been fatal. She was 

 a barren young cow, and had a lovely skin, which I saved 

 in honor of my new rifle. Cal now joined me, and we fol- 

 lowed the band on their reckless stampede, but saw them no 

 more. After taking out the entrails of the elk, we started 

 for home, but struck other trails which we followed toward 

 the main Paint Rock canyon. 



After riding several miles, we came to the heavy trail 

 of perhaps sixty elks. Farther along on our way we came 

 to another trail of perhaps forty or fifty, all going in the 

 same direction. Here we held a council of war, deciding 

 at last to go home and return in the morning with our full 

 force. On our homeward way, we encountered the most vil- 

 lainous route I ever traveled, and were compelled to sur- 

 mount what seemed to be at first sight impassable barriers. 

 Several times our horses fell over rocks and trees. I gave 

 a sigh of relief when we approached camp and found all 

 the other boys had arrived. 



Chappell had got a shot at a deer, but so far off, and 

 through such terrible brush, that the bullet was worn out 

 before it reached the deer. Woods had crippled five or six 

 of them and Fender had scared a doe into another territory. 

 Cal and I then sprung our cow elk on them with the addi- 

 tional statement of seeing six or seven hundred more tracks, 

 all of which we knew were not more than a mile from 

 where we left them. 



Early on the next morning we were in the saddle, our 

 horses flying across the large parks, making a bee line to- 

 ward where we had seen the trails the day before. Like a 

 company of cavalrymen we went on until we found the 



