CHAPTER IX. 



THE WAPITI OR ROUND-HORNED ELK. 



ONCE, while on another hunt with John Willis, 

 I spent a week in a vain effort to kill moose 

 among the outlying mountains at the southern 

 end of the Bitter Root range. Then, as we had no meat, 

 we determined to try for elk, of which we had seen much 

 sign. 



We were camped with a wagon, as high among the 

 foot-hills as wheels could go, but several hours' walk from 

 the range of the game ; for it was still early in the season, 

 and they had not yet come down from the upper slopes. 

 Accordingly we made a practice of leaving the wagon for 

 two or three days at a time to hunt ; returning to get a 

 night's rest in the tent, preparatory to a fresh start. On 

 these trips we carried neither blankets nor packs, as the 

 walking was difficult and we had much ground to cover. 

 Each merely put on his jacket with a loaf of frying-pan 

 bread and a paper of salt stuffed into the pockets. We were 

 cumbered with nothing save our rifles and cartridges. 



On the morning in question we left camp at sunrise. 

 For two or three hours we walked up-hill through a rather 



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