OAT THE PRA1K 



soil or a faint indentation in the bed of pine 

 needles. Besides, I had to advance with the 

 greatest caution, keeping the sharpest look- 

 out in front and on all sides of me. Even 

 as it was, though I got very close up to 

 my game, they were on foot before I saw 

 them, and I did not get a standing shot. 

 While carefully looking to my footsteps I 

 paid too little heed to the rifle which I held 

 in my right hand, and let the barrel tap 

 smartly on a tree trunk. Instantly there 

 was a stamp and movement among the 

 bushes ahead and to one side of me; the 

 elk had heard but had neither seen nor smelt 

 me; and a second afterward I saw the in- 

 distinct, shadowy outlines of the band as 

 they trotted down hill, from where their 

 beds had been made on the very summit 

 of the crest, taking a course diagonal to 

 mine. I raced forward and also down hill, 

 behind some large mossy boulders, and cut 

 them fairly oTF, the band passing directly 

 ahead of me and not twenty yards away, 

 at a slashing trot, which a few of them 



