ON THE PRAIRIE 183 



elk, probably those I had seen on the pre- 

 ceding day. We had been running briskly 

 up-hill through the soft, heavy loam, in 

 which our feet made no noise but slipped and 

 sank deeply ; as a consequence, I was all out 

 of breath and my hand so unsteady that I 

 missed my first shot. Elk, however, do not 

 vanish with the instantaneous rapidity of 

 frightened deer, and these three trotted off 

 in a direction quartering to us. I doubt if I 

 ever went through more violent exertion than 

 in the next ten minutes. We raced after 

 them at full speed, opening fire ; I wounded 

 all three, but none of the wounds were im- 

 mediately disabling. They trotted on and 

 we panted afterwards, slipping on the wet 

 earth, pitching headlong over charred 

 stumps, leaping on dead logs that broke be- 

 neath our weight, more than once measur- 

 ing our full-length on the ground, halting 

 and % firing whenever we got a chance. At 

 last one bull fell; we passed him by after 

 the others which were still running up-hill. 

 The sweat streamed into my eyes and made 



