THIRTY YEARS A HUNTER. 75 



while the two others went to the north. "We pursued 

 the one the dogs were after. He ran about eight 

 miles, and then turned upon the dogs, which soon 

 tired out and came back, meeting us about four miles 

 from where they had fought. We continued on, and 

 encamped near where the elk had stood at bay. The 

 next morning we followed the elk about three-quar- 

 ters of a mile, and came to where he had left his 

 westerly course and turned to the south. About 

 half a mile farther we came to where he had been 

 feeding, and had lain during the night, and discov- 

 ered him about fifty or sixty rods ahead of U3. We 

 let the two fresh dogs go, and they approached within 

 a few yards of him before he saw them. lie then 

 started, running about six miles, when he turned to 

 fight the dogs, tired them out, and they returned to 

 us. We continued on, however, to the place where 

 the elk had turned upon the dogs. As it was a very 

 blustering day, and there was good camping grouud, 

 we halted for the night, All of the hu\ed men now 

 became discouraged. They said that our dogs were 

 worthless for elk-hunting, that they had gone thus lar 

 without accomplishing any thing, and would proba- 

 bly not if we continued the chase ; and that they 

 were tired and wished to return homo. I told them 

 that the direction in which the elk was then travel- 

 ing led toward home, and it was as well to follow 

 the track as to take any other course. Also, that as 

 they had engaged for an indefinite period, they 

 were under obligations to remain with me, if I desired 

 it, until we had caught a live elk. The next morniii" 



