THE WAPITI 285 



alarmed him, but this was evidently not the case, for he 

 was now walking. I left the trail, and turning to one 

 side below the wind I took a long circle and again struck 

 back to the bottom of the valley down which the wapiti 

 had been travelling. The timber here was quite thick, 

 and I moved very cautiously, continually halting and 

 listening for five or ten minutes. Not a sound did I 

 hear, and I crossed the valley bottom and began to ascend 

 the other side without finding the trail. Unless he had 

 turned off up the mountains I knew that this meant he 

 must have lain down; so I retraced my steps and with 

 extreme caution began to make my way up the valley. 

 Finally I came to a little opening, and after peering about 

 for five minutes I stepped forward, and instantly heard 

 a struggling and crashing in a clump of young spruce on 

 the other side. It was the wapiti trying to get on his 

 feet. I ran forward at my best pace, and as he was stiff 

 and slow in his movements I was within seventy yards 

 before he got fairly under way. Dropping on one knee, 

 I fired and hit him in the flank. At the moment I could 

 not tell whether or not I had missed him, for he gave 

 no sign; but, running forward very fast, I speedily saw 

 him standing with his head down. He heard me and 

 again started, but at the third bullet down he went in his 

 tracks, the antlers clattering loudly on the branches of 

 a dead tree. 



The snow was melting fast, and for fear it might go 

 off entirely, so that I could not follow my back track, I 

 went up the hillside upon which the wapiti lay, and tak- 

 ing a dead tree dragged it down to the bottom, leaving 



