ON THE PRAIRIE 195 



where by patches of dull red and vivid yel- 

 low, tokens that the trees were already put- 

 ting on the dress with which they greet the 

 mortal ripening of the year. The deep and 

 narrow but smooth ravines running up to- 

 wards the edges of the plateaus were heavily 

 wooded, the bright green tree-tops rising to 

 a height they rarely reach in the barren 

 plains-country; and the rocky sides of the 

 sheer gorges were clad with a thick growth 

 of dwarfed cedars, while here and there the 

 trailing Virginia creepers burned crimson 

 among their sombre masses. 



We hunted stealthily up-wind, across the 

 line of the heavily timbered coulies. We 

 soon saw traces of our quarry; old tracks 

 at first, and then the fresh footprints of a 

 single elk a bull, judging by the size 

 which had come down to drink at a mirey 

 alkali pool, its feet slipping so as to leave 

 the marks of the false hoofs in the soft soil. 

 We hunted with painstaking and noiseless 

 care for many hours ; at last as I led old Man- 

 itou up to look over the edge of a narrow 



