210 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



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

 at the shoulder, but the bull got my wind and 

 was off before I could pull trigger. It was just 

 one of those occasions when there are two 

 courses to pursue, neither very good, and 

 when one is apt to regret whichever decision 

 is made. 



At noon we came to the edge of a deep and 

 wide gorge, and sat down shivering to await 

 what might turn up, our fingers numb, and 

 our wet feet icy. Suddenly the love-challenge 

 of an elk came pealing across the gorge, 

 through the fine, cold rain, from the heart of 

 the forest opposite. An hour's stiff climb, 

 down and up, brought us nearly to him ; but 

 the wind forced us to advance from below 

 through a series of open glades. He was 

 lying on a point of the cliff-shoulder, sur- 

 rounded by his cows ; and he saw us and made 

 off. An hour afterward, as we were trudging 

 up a steep hill-side dotted with groves of fir 

 and spruce, a young bull of ten points, roused 

 from his day-bed by our approach, galloped 

 across us some sixty yards off. We were in 

 need of better venison than can be furnished 

 by an old rutting bull ; so I instantly took a 

 shot at the fat and tender young ten-pointer. 

 I aimed well ahead and pulled trigger just as 

 he came to a small gully ; and he fell into it 

 in a heap with a resounding crash. This was 

 on the birthday of my eldest small son ; so I 

 took him home the horns, "for his very own. " 

 On the way back that afternoon I shot off the 

 heads of two blue grouse, as they perched in 

 the pines. 



That evening the storm broke, and the 



