HUNTING A CHRISTMAS DINNER. 357 



the undulating landscape, which was fringed along the horizon 

 by the pine-trees of the upper hills, some five or six miles 

 away, and these it was certain my Christmas dinner would do 

 her utmost to reach. 



Up the hill-side I could only move slowly, following the 

 well-marked trail left by the elk, and which was rendered more 

 conspicuous still by the blood drops freely scattered on the 

 snow. Rising over the ridge, I found Bronson coming round 

 from the right, now just upon a level with me, riding hard, 

 and gesticulating towards the front. A broad sweep of sloping 

 prairie lay before, stretching down to a creek-bed, which 

 appeared to lead direct to the pine-hills ; and along its bottom, 

 fully half a mile away, the great elk was to be seen, making 

 tremendous play towards the sanctuary. Plainly it was to be a 

 question of speed and endurance between our ponies and the 

 elk ; so, quickly propping my heavy rifle against a bush, I took 

 tight hold of little Smoke's head, and sent him best pace along 

 the slope. For a mile or so it was very evident that, even in 

 the snow, the elk's three legs were better than the four which 

 were burdened with thirteen stone of flesh and accoutrements. 

 I could barely keep the big beast in sight as I held the upper 

 ground and she struggled along the bottom. Soon I saw that 

 the creek-bed forked right and left, and I lost no little distance 

 by speculating to the right, with a view to cutting my game off 

 from the nearest section of the pine-hills. The elk swung 

 round the corner to the left, and I followed suit at once by 

 dipping in and out of the right-hand branch, and galloping 

 parallel with the left. By this time Bronson's " squaw pony " 

 was far behind, and little Smoke, with all his six-hundred-yard 

 reputation (and six hundred yards is a long-distance race in 

 Montana) was beginning to show very visible signs of the effect 

 of some three miles through heavy snow. I had neither whip 

 nor spurs, but soon found it necessary to untie my saddle-rope, 

 and make use of its end to keep him galloping at all. The elk 

 was no longer to be seen, and the ground becoming rather 

 broken. 



