An Elk-Hunt at Two-Ocean Pass. 195 



horseback, and followed the elk at full speed wherever 

 they went. Their method of hunting was to organize 

 great drives, the riders strung in lines far apart ; they 

 signalled to one another by means of willow whistles, with 

 which they also imitated the calling of the bull elk, thus 

 tolling the animals to them, or making them betray their 

 whereabouts. As they slew whatever they could, but by 

 preference cows and calves, and as they were very perse- 

 vering, but also very excitable and generally poor shots, 

 so that they wasted much powder, they not only wrought 

 havoc among the elk, but also scared the survivors out of 

 all the country over which they hunted. 



Day in and day out we plodded on. In a hunting- 

 trip the days of long monotony in getting to the ground, 

 and the days of unrequited toil after it has been reached, 

 always far outnumber the red-letter days of success. But 

 it is just these times of failure that really test the hunter. 

 In the long run, common-sense and dogged perseverance 

 avail him more than any other qualities. The man who does 

 not give up, but hunts steadily and resolutely through the 

 spells of bad luck until the luck turns, is the man who 

 wins success in the end. 



After a week at Two-Ocean Pass, we gathered our 

 pack-animals one frosty morning, and again set off across 

 the mountains. A two-days' jaunt took us to the summit 

 of Wolverine Pass, near Pinyon Peak, beside a little 

 mountain tarn ; each morning we found its surface 

 skimmed with black ice, for the nights were cold. After 

 three or four days, we shifted camp to the mouth of 

 Wolverine Creek, to get off the hunting grounds of the 



