1 66 HUNTING TRIPS 



out and broke his neck. Another time one 

 of the mares a homely beast with a head 

 like a camel's managed to flounder into the 

 very centre of a mud-hole, and we spent 

 the better part of a morning in fishing her 

 out. 



It was on the second day of our journey 

 into the mountains, while leading the pack- 

 ponies down the precipitous side of a steep 

 valley, that I obtained my first sight of elk. 

 The trail wound through a forest of tall, 

 slender pines, standing very close together, 

 and with dead trees lying in every direction. 

 The narrow trunks or overhanging limbs 

 threatened to scrape off the packs at every 

 moment, as the ponies hopped and scram- 



% 



bled over the fallen trunks ; and it was dif- 

 ficult work, and most trying to the temper, 

 to keep them going along straight and pre- 

 vent them from wandering off to one side 

 or the other. At last we got out into a 

 succession of small, open glades, with 

 boggy spots in them ; the lowest glade was 

 of some size, and as we reached it we saw 



