190 The Wilderness Hunter 



so often with wapiti, neither of the wounded ani- 

 mals at the moment showed any signs of being hit. 

 The yearling ran off unscathed. The other three 

 crowded together and trotted behind some spruce 

 on the left, while we ran forward for another shot. 

 In a moment one fell ; whereupon the remaining two 

 turned and came back across the glade, trotting to 

 the right. As we opened fire they broke into a lum- 

 bering gallop, but were both downed before they got 

 out of sight in the timber. 



As soon as the three bulls were down we busied 

 ourselves taking off their heads and hides, and cut- 

 ting off the best portions of the meat from the 

 saddles and hams to take back to camp, where we 

 smoked it. But first we had breakfast. We kindled a 

 fire beside a little spring of clear water and raked out 

 the coals. Then we cut two willow twigs as spits, 

 ran on each a number of small pieces of elk loin, and 

 roasted them over the fire. We had salt; we were 

 very hungry; and I never ate anything that tasted 

 better. 



The wapiti is, next to the moose, the most quar- 

 relsome and pugnacious of American deer. It can 

 not be said that it is ordinarily a dangerous beast 

 to hunt; yet there are instances in which wounded 

 wapiti, incautiously approached to within striking 

 distance, have severely misused their assailants, both 

 with their antlers and their forefeet. I myself knew 

 one man who had been badly mauled in this fashion. 



