64 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



route that the wagons were to follow, and an 

 event occurred — we saw our first wapiti. Almost 

 immediately after leaving camp I spied two or 

 three gigantic objects, with horns like branching 

 trees, surveying us from a sand-hill at a little 

 distance. I was nearly frightened to death at the 

 sight, they looked so enormous in the dim light, 

 and although I had absolutely seen the head of an 

 elk at Chicago, I still had lingering doubts as to 

 their existence. We tried to ride round them, 

 but it was no use : they had seen the camp, and 

 made off before we could get anywhere within 

 range. We travelled all the rest of that day 

 without seeing anything more : it was intensely 

 hot, and altogether the journey was not a very 

 pleasant one. The heat was most oppressive, 

 although it was late in October, for there was not 

 a breath of wind, and the treeless prairie does not 

 afford a particle of shade of any kind ; being quite 

 a green hand on the prairies, I was afraid to wander 

 any distance from the wagons, lest I might lose 

 myself ; and I found riding behind a wagon all 

 day in the broiling sun on a rough-paced broncho 

 so tiresome that I was well pleased when the 

 camping-place for the night hove in sight. 



The country we traversed is peculiar ; the soil 



