i8 4 HUNTING TRIPS 



furrows in the sooty mud that covered my 

 face, from having fallen full length down 

 on the burnt earth; I sobbed for breath as 

 I toiled at a shambling trot after them, as 

 nearly done out as could well be. At this 

 moment they turned down-hill. It was a 

 great relief; a man who is too done up to 

 go a steep up-hill can still run fast enough 

 down; with a last spurt I closed in near 

 enough to fire again ; one elk fell ; the other 

 went off at a walk. We passed the second 

 elk and I kept on alone after the third, not 

 able to go at more than a slow trot myself, 

 and too much winded to dare risk a shot at 

 any distance. He got out of the burnt patch, 

 going into some thick timber in a deep ra- 

 vine; I closed pretty well, and rushed after 

 him into a thicket of young evergreens. 

 Hardly was I in when there was a scramble 

 and bounce among them and I caught a 

 glimpse of a yellow body moving out to one 

 side; I ran out toward the edge and fired 

 through the twigs at the moving beast. 

 Down it went, but when I ran up, to my dis- 



