282 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



to exercise much caution. Accordingly I gained, and 

 felt I was about to come up with him, when the wind 

 brought down from very far off another challenge. My 

 bull heard it before I did, and instantly started toward 

 the spot at a trot. There was not the slightest use of my 

 attempting to keep up with this, and I settled down into 

 a walk. Half an hour afterward I came over a slight 

 crest, and immediately saw a herd of wapiti ahead of me, 

 across the valley and on an open hillside. The herd was 

 in commotion, the master bull whistling vigorously and 

 rounding up his cows, evidently much excited at the new 

 bull's approach. There were two or three yearlings and 

 two-year-old bulls on the outskirts of the herd, and the 

 master bull, whose temper had evidently not been 

 improved by the coming of the stranger, occasionally 

 charged these and sent them rattling off through the 

 bushes. The ground was so open between me and them 

 that I dared not venture across it, and I was forced to lie 

 still and await developments. The bull I had been fol- 

 lowing and the herd bull kept challenging vigorously, 

 but the former probably recognized in the latter a heavier 

 animal, and could not rouse his courage to the point of 

 actually approaching and doing battle. It by no means 

 follows that the animal with the heaviest body has the best 

 antlers, but the hesitation thus shown by the bull I was 

 following made me feel that the other would probably 

 yield the more valuable trophies, and after a couple of 

 hours I made up my mind to try to get near the herd, 

 abandoning the animal I had been after. 



The herd showed but little symptoms of moving, the 



