After Wapiti in Wyoming 



eight horses thoroughly tired, and three men 

 in a condition which admitted of only the 

 fewest words with the longest possible inter- 

 vals between. Gloom overhung the outfit. 



These feelings disappeared as soon as we 

 had finished our supper, and we had just 

 lighted our pipes when, close by our camp- 

 fire, we heard clearly the call of a bull elk. Up 

 to that time I had not had a shot at this, the 

 grandest of all the deer family, and I was 

 quickly on my feet, rifle in hand. Wading 

 the brook, I stalked as hurriedly as I dared 

 toward an opening some forty rods beyond. 

 It was just the last glimmer of daylight, and 

 I made time until I came to the bank, over 

 which I could look into the open park where 

 I felt the royal beast was. What a picture 

 greeted my gaze ! The park was perhaps 

 four hundred yards across, and nearly oval in 

 shape, and from the opposite side ran out, 

 nearly to the middle, a plateau some thirty 

 feet in height. On the point of this, standing 

 as immovable as one of Barye's bronzes, was 

 a bull elk with antlers that would please the 

 most fastidious sportsman in the world. In a 

 moment he elevated his head and gave a call 



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