220 The Wilderness Hunter 



likely places among the pines, which grew far apart 

 and without undergrowth. We dried our steaming 

 clothes, and ate a hearty supper of elk-meat ; then we 

 turned into our beds, warm and dry, and slept sound- 

 ly under the canvas, while all night long the storm 

 roared without. Next morning it still stormed fit- 

 fully ; the high peaks and ridges round about were all 

 capped with snow. Woody and I started on foot for 

 an all-day tramp ; the amount of game seen the day 

 before showed that we were in a good elk country, 

 where the elk had been so little disturbed that they 

 were traveling, feeding, and whistling in daylight. 

 For three hours we walked across the forest-clad 

 spurs of the foothills. We roused a small band of 

 elk in thick timber; but they rushed off before we 

 saw them, with much smashing of dead branches. 

 Then we climbed to the summit of the range. The 

 wind was light and baffling; it blew from all points, 

 veering every few minutes. There were occasional 

 rain-squalls; our feet and legs were well soaked; 

 and we became chilled through whenever we sat 

 down to listen. We caught a glimpse of a" big bull 

 feeding up-hill, and followed him ; it needed smart 

 running to overtake him, for an elk, even while feed- 

 ing, has a ground-covering gait. Finally we got 

 within a hundred and twenty-five yards, but in very 

 thick timber, and all I could see plainly was the hip 

 and the after-part of the flank. I waited for a 

 chance at the shoulder, but the bull got my wind and 



