AN ELK-HUNT A T TWO-OCEAN PASS. 217 



Our ill success was in part due to sheer bad 

 luck; but the chief element therein was the 

 presence of a great hunting-party of Shoshone 

 Indians. Split into bands of eight or ten each, 

 they scoured the whole country on their tough, 

 sure-footed ponies. They always hunted on 

 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 pref- 

 erence cows and calves, and as they were 

 very persevering, 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 unre- 

 quited 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 



