182 HUNTING TRIPS 



wintry look ; while in the moonlight the snow- 

 laden forests shone and sparkled like crystal. 

 The dweller in cities has but a faint idea of 

 the way we ate and slept. 



One day Merrifield and I went out to- 

 gether and had a rather exciting chase after 

 some bull elk. The previous evening, to- 

 ward sunset, I had seen three bulls trotting 

 off across an open glade toward a great 

 stretch of forest and broken ground, up near 

 the foot of the rocky peaks. Next morning 

 early we started off to hunt through this 

 country. The walking was hard work, es- 

 pecially up and down the steep cliffs, covered 

 with slippery pine needles; or among the 

 windfalls, where the rows of dead trees lay 

 piled up across one another in the wildest 

 confusion. We saw nothing until we came to 

 a large, patch of burnt ground, where we at 

 once found the soft, black soil marked up by 

 elk hoofs ; nor had we penetrated into it more 

 than a few hundred yards before we came 

 to tracks made but a few minutes before, 

 and almost instantly afterward saw three bull 



