chap, viii, THE FIND. 181 



The mist was hanging heavily on the lower parts 

 of the plain like a thick snowbank, although the sky- 

 was beautifully clear above, in which a few pale stars 

 still glimmered. Long lines of fog were slowly drift- 

 ing along the bottoms of the valleys, dispelled by a 

 light breeze, and day fast advancing bid fair for sport; 

 a heavy dew lay upon the grass, and we stood for 

 some moments in uncertainty as to the first point of 

 our extensive hunting-grounds that we should beat. 

 There were fresh tracks of elk close to our ' lodge,' who 

 had been surveying our new settlement during the 

 night. Crossing the river by wading waist-deep, we 

 skirted along the banks, winding through a narrow 

 valley with grassy hills capped with forest upon either 

 side. Our object in doing this was to seek for marks 

 where the elk had come down to drink during the 

 night, as we knew that the tracks would then lead to 

 the jungle upon either side the river. We had strolled 

 quietly along for about half a mile, when the loud bark 

 of an elk was suddenly heard in the jungle upon the 

 opposite hills. In a moment the hounds dashed across 

 the river towards the well-known sound, and entered 

 the jungle at full speed. Judging the direction which 

 the elk would most probably take when found, I ran 

 along the bank of the river, down stream, for a quarter 

 of a mile, towards a jungle through which the river 

 flowed previous to its descent into the lower plains, 

 and I waited upon a steep grassy hill, about a hundred 



