ELK HUNTING 



water ; whilst Rover, realising the discomfiture of his com- 

 panion, retired to a respectful distance, and contented 

 himself, for the time being, with adding another voice to 

 the deafening roar of the pack. 



By this time however " Spring," a very powerful 

 brindled kangaroo hound, had come up and the fight 

 was soon over. He was a very handsome stag, carrying 

 a head of great length of beam, with brow antlers 1 1| 

 inches to their tips. 



All his points were hard, and the velvet was already 

 peeling off, so that the trophy was an exceptionally fine one. 



It was still quite early, and hounds being all in, I 

 decided to draw again at once towards the Horton Plains 

 by a path I had cut the season before. 



Crossing the ridge dividing the Aldie Patna Valley 

 from the Horton Plains, we came upon fresh tracks of a 

 stag, but before the finders had time to spread out a 

 three-quarter grown hind jumped up in the middle of 

 them. We viewed her away through a bit of scrub and 

 patna, heading straight for the Horton Plains, then not 

 half a mile ahead of us. 



She crossed the plains at a narrow point, as we ascer- 

 tained by her galloping slots, down to a rough rocky 

 crossing in the river, which from time immemorial has 

 been the path for every species of game inhabiting the 

 Horton Plains forests. 



We had heard before we went down the hill Petrel's 

 ringing note across the valley, and every now and then two 

 or three couple of the others would go in, but it was not 

 a good line, and only a find. 



I would have gladly got them off, and had begun to 

 try the effect of the horn upon them, when we heard a 

 sudden and savage bay. This I could not understand, as 



