PLATEAU MOUNTAIN 139 



reached the bank just after the moose had recrossed to 

 the other side and gone in the woods. Louis tried to 

 coax the bull in sight with the horn, but in vain. It 

 appeared that about an hour and a half before that time, 

 when Selous and I were sleeping, Louis had stepped out 

 to the river bank and had given a few calls for amuse- 

 ment before he retired. The bull had evidently heard 

 the sound from a long distance and had gradually ap- 

 proached and crossed the river. His tracks on the bar, 

 which were seen the next morning, showed that he had 

 come to within fifty feet of our camp. 



September 26. Before daylight I went out and called 

 again, but without result. We did not start until an 

 hour before noon, and reached the Forks early in the 

 afternoon. I had carefully deducted all time for stops, 

 and found that the actual time consumed in running 

 down river from the cache to the Forks was six hours. 

 It had required six days with interruptions to drag the 

 canoes up the same distance. Not long before arriving 

 at the Forks, we met Jack Barr and Crosby, trappers who 

 had passed the preceding winter trapping in that locality. 

 They were on their way to Barr Creek with the purpose 

 of bringing provisions to their cabin. They had spent 

 some time with Rungius and Osgood in the Russell 

 Mountains, where they had a "line" cabin. Both were 

 fine types of the woodsmen who trap in the northern 

 country, and though efficient in killing moose for a supply 

 of meat they were not much interested in game. They 

 had trapped at the foot of the mountains which we had 

 hunted, but did not even know that sheep lived on them; 



