78 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



shouting to frighten them. In running Wapiti 

 on horseback, the great thing is to get among them 

 suddenly at great speed, and to scare them as much 

 as possible. If you succeed in doing that, they get 

 winded, and with a good horse you will be able to 

 keep up with them for some little distance ; but if 

 you let them get started gradually at their own 

 pace, you have no more chance of coming up with 

 them than with the man in the moon. However, 

 this time we charged in among the herd, and kept 

 up with them a long way. What became of the 

 others I don't know, for I was too fully occupied 

 with myself to take any notice of them. I rode in 

 upon fifty or sixty of the huge beasts, kept my horse 

 galloping right along with them, and loaded and 

 fired as fast as I could, occasionally rolling over a 

 deer. Presently I singled out a big stag, the best 

 I could see, and devoted myself to him. With the 

 usual cowardice of his sex, he thrust himself in 

 among the hinds, and I had great difficulty in get- 

 ting at him at all. Finally, I got a good broadside 

 shot at him, but missed, for it is not an easy thing 

 to hit a deer at full gallop with your own horse at 

 full gallop also ; in fact it is about as hard a thing 

 to do as a man can attempt in the way of shooting, 

 particularly as, owing to the peculiarly dangerous 



